He wasn’t much to look at in his jacket and his jeans
He didn’t make much money yet, but wasn’t under liens
But though he lacked in present means, he didn’t lack in plans
He dreamed of flying parapets, aloft by giant fans
Aloft to reach the lofty heights of Princess Elmerand
Her palace sat above his home, a marble monolith
Her beauty shimmered like the sun, her voice was full of pith
No woman who has ever lived could quite compare to her
And that is where he set his sights, the humble tinkerer
While she would dance the night away, and go distribute alms
He sat up in his workshop, working with his callused palms
She once came down the very street on which he made his home
He’d renovated quite a lot, five stories and a dome
She wondered if the tinted glass and furnaces were built
For just and righteous purposes, or something that would wilt
He glimpsed her through the window pane, and ran up to the stair
A dashing cavalcade of man to reach the open air
Crested the top of workshop roof just at her carriage turn
They had a moments eye contact that neither chose to spurn
A thousand words sprang from his eyes, the windows to his soul
But she was now beyond the bend and still the carriage rolled
His reputation grew through work that made the crowds amazed
Mechanics, building filled his time, yet still upward he gazed
The princess for her part looked too, upon her city fair
And wondered who her father’d choose, to make for her a pair
Yet in the nights she looked upon the late lit, yellow glass
Of strange contraptions being built, and on the man she’d passed
The pocketbook grew heavy for the young constructive lad
But though the riches filled his bank, his mood still drifted sad
He hadn’t ventured out to stack the gold to the moon
Or to develop curios and novelty balloons
His goal had loomed above his head for eons, so it felt
But now the time had come at last to play what he’d been dealt
The rotors whirred and doorways creaked, a castle in the sky
Began to rise majestically, began to truly fly
He piloted it up the slope, to castle, keep, and king
To woo the heart of Elmerand with all that he could bring
The drawbridge lowered from the height, he disembarked at last
To walk into the throne room door and justify his past
The king was in the tallest throne, the princess meekly near
And builder kneeled in fealty, his courage streaked with fear
“I’ve come to ask betrothal, sir, to Princess Elmerand
I’ve come requesting to be wed, I’m asking for your hand”
The king was just and loved his child, he told his daughter so
He would allow the union if his daughter loved also
She told to him a simple phrase, that stuck with him for life:
“I will indeed accept your ring, I will become your wife
But why is it you waited so, delayed in your request
I would have married you the day you started on your quest.
I wasn’t looking for a place for me to lay my head,
Respectfully, you still can’t match the royal castle bed.
I knew that we were meant to be, the moment we locked eyes
And mine are still intent on yours, and I see your surprise.
Your love for me was obvious to all who saw your craft
You named three different prototypes with me names, I’m not daft.
You’ve built to be a worthy man, and that has proven true
But now I am delighted that I’ll finally be with you”
The banns were cried, the service done, a covenant declared
Of happy details after that, the reader can be spared
Just know that ever after was, for them, a living truth
Refreshed in every lived out day, and always full of youth
Not exactly sure why they have jeans in this vaguely renaissance setting, but it is what it is.
You may wonder if this is autobiographical — me too. More seriously, I can confirm that any plans I have to develop large airships are entirely unrelated to any desire I may have to marry a princess (and I really want to bring back airships).