Love Story of the Snail Queen

 by Tsamchoe

I met the snail queen yesterday.
She had a new crown on.
She led me in her palace.
Down into the earth.
She offered me drinks and meals.
She let me play her golden harp.
A hundred snail maids entertained me,
But the snail queen looked sad…
            “Your majesty,” I then asked.
            “Why this gloom on your pretty face?”
             She shed a silent tear then
             And led me to her private park
            Where beside a tomb she knelt
            And thus related,
“The air was wet and wonderful,
It was the snail-ball last monsoon,
And I met a charming snail prince.
The smartest antenna he had
And I fell for him!
      We danced till the moonlights were gone.
      We walked the snail city arm in arm.
      And that golden harp he gave me then
     (The snail tradition to ask to be wed)
The monsoon feast was our wedding day.
And never more happy were we then!
My maids got me ready.
They curled my antenna,
Coloured my shell
And with this new crown I was adorned!
      Wedding bells had filled the air.
     And the feast had just begun.
     But the prince did not turn up!
     The scouts traced him everywhere
     They blew the emergency horn,
      They put special receptors on
And after hours of search, up and down,
They finally brought his distorted corpse,
While on his way to the wedding,
Two giant feet had squashed him twice!
           My love story,
           The usual snail-story,
           Had just come to an end.”