"The Princess Is Not In This Castle".

Whatever happened to those princesses, happily ever after? Oh, those princesses...

We thought the magic was in the castle walls. We thought we could contain and save it away, as if it was something to own and conjure at whim. Now, we find it a "living creature" of its own device that breathes life into the mundane and inanimate. Possess it? No, this fancy, fickle creature possesses us. It is alive.

And now, you princess, take another look at this castle. Bereft of magic and forsaken of love, with not even a handsome prince to warm your bed, or a vicious dragon to keep the loneliness at bay. Solitude permeates the air without even the dim life of a ghostly specter -- even those dark corners don't hold mystery.

This castle was always a fortress of a dungeon but for awhile inhabited and transformed by magic. Was this ever a kingdom?

Vacate the premises and run to the courts; surely there, magic still lingers in the rosebushes and only exists through the cast of spells. But, even they fled the neglected gardens once abundant with fertility; weeds have choked the colors out of petals and bled the earth of nourishment. We created this garden of love, but have just as surely killed it out of indifference and carelessness. There exists no magic in corpses.

What is that throne worth now? Are we to wilt and fade prettily like a dying star in gown and crown upon our sepulcher? 

Princess, darling, precious, all those endearments in the stead of your name. Did you really believe you were so delicate and fragile? Did you believe them when they said your place was to be kept by castle, man, and love? Is that all you desire? 

Take off your gaudy crown; it keeps you from looking up at the sky. Dispose of your heavy attire; it keeps you from being nimble and quick. Remove yourself of those gloves; it disables you from wrangling and mastering the beasts of your nightmares. 

Our valiant prince and fearsome dragon are gone. We see our castle of what it is: sand to be crumbled and clouds to be blown away. We've shed our skin and have exposed ourselves to the sun and air to be weathered and toughened. More than anything we want to find that magic again, not to own or possess, but to learn how to wield -- a miracle so frighteningly unpredictable and wonderfully illuminating. There is magic in this new world.