The Fall Of The Kingdom

Inspired to an extent by Macbeth and the desire to pen a tragedy

The Fall of a Kingdom

There was once a time,

When I was king,

And the world was mine.

The twangs of bows and arrows,

Made disappear,

All my sorrows.

I lived and unhesitatingly lied,

To win over the people,

Whose hearts were mystified.

I was revered by the very Nature and Earth,

The wood from its best trees,

warmed during winter,

My chaste hearth.

My court was large and titanic,

With learned people from far and wide,

It appeared beautiful and majestic.

Songs of my courage and valour were sung,

By minstrels and bards,

And the village children carrying dung.

Mighty I was, also proud and vain,

Was looked up to by my peers,

With respect and hidden disdain.

Thus I ruled for a few years,

But,for an incident,

Which turned around my fears.

My castle was set on fire,

By enemies, and foes,

Who immediately bore the crucible of my ire.

However,I came back home only to find,

My dear ones burnt,

To ashes,to ashes,

Me,left alone physically and in mind.

By overbearing grief,I was overtaken,

My jesters and ministers,

At this worried and shaken,

My kingdom cried at my plight,

But their suffering was by no means like mine,

It was,as though,my soul

To the Devil,had taken flight.

On that very day,I lost all aggression,

In front of an empire,I swore,

Never to touch another weapon.

In a few days I had aged,

So many decades,I feared,

I would die in this misery, completely caged.

I watched everything disinterested,

While my kingdom fell,

To mutiny and invasion,

That was the chance for which some had waited,

Me?What would I do caught in this wild dream?

Everything was a haze,

Besides watching my family scream.

I was simply good for nothing,

I wondered,after all,

was life worth living?

I went to my room,

On the day my enemies charged the citadel,In full battle ware,

Looked at myself in the mirror,

Drew out my gleaming sword,which,

For others had always spelt doom,

Passed it right through my heart,

Which was to say completely bare.

There was once a time,

When I was king,

And the world was mine!

-Shubham Chattopadhyay

Reviews

[Acropolix]

Power is given and lost. What rests is the memory of it all. A memory like a written word as found in this poem. Great work, don't make a habit out of it, or you make me read them all...

[Shubham's View]

That's the plan! A memory is not all however, because live memories don't live for long.

[Becca Bishop]

..... ....!!! ...!!!!!! My expression the three times I read this. It's so amazing that you could capture such unique imagery in writing. The only thing I had a problem with (but maybe you like it this way) is that the ending went too fast. Not that he killed himself or anything, but the last three lines seemed to come up too fast. I would've liked a little something more in between the death and the reiteration of the first lines (nice way to end, by the way). Where was I? Oh, yes. I absolutely LOVED it. That's right. I loved it so much I had to capitalize 'loved'.

[Shubham's View]

Ah, for a while even I thought, I'd ended it too quick, but then someone said, "End things when people ask why and not why not?" and thus a premature death the king saw. :D

[Becca Bishop]

That clarifies things a bit, thanks. And I was just being nit-picky the day I read it. I got mad at one of my socks because it had a hole in the toe and then I got mad at my sandwich for being too brown. My complaints had nothing to do with your poem and everything to do with my irritating mood swings. (P.S. I still love your poem :D)

[Shubham's View]

Sandwich!! :D
And a 'peek-a-boo' toe!! :D
I love complaints! You can complain all you want and I won't get tired, I'm officially an agony aunt for my readers! :D :D

[Becca Bishop]

I've never had an agony aunt before!!! Uber excited now and I can't wait to start my complaining career!!!!

[Shubham's View]

Lets see what complaints you can offer. I'm pretty ready!

[Becca Bishop]

Well... arrows and sorrows don't really rhyme, commas are shaped funny, unhesitatingly is a big word, my big toe hurts, I don't think Nature and the Earth would revere someone who chopped down trees for warmth, I don't have any cheesecake which makes me pretty unhappy, where was he when the castle got burned down and why wasn't he in it?, my siblings are irritating, "to ashes, to ashes" reminds me of the song, I've got an annoying song stuck in my head, I thought the family was dead from the fire, my hands are cold, we don't have any more awesome castles and kings, my bookshelf is disorganized, I really want a pet moose but my backyard's not big enough, and I'm out of things to complain about. Shocker.

[Shubham's View]

Well they rhyme in a way! commas are nice, point but then again half of folklore is made of contradicting stuff, buy/make cheesecake, best happiness ever( Best happiness? Where'd that come from? ) ! Yes they died from the fire which was part of a conspiracy hatched by the enemies so he went after them, play pranks on your siblings, taste of their own medicine To Ashes by David Bowie?, which annoying song? wear gloves, sit beside a fire. there's one queen not very awesome though, Bhutan has a king, few other countries too, bookshelves are meant to be disorganised, whoever heard of a moose as a pet? Anyway wouldn't stay with you for long. They're very good at opening locks, better than orangutans, that's too bad, not a shocker, you let it all out, *whoosh*

[Becca Bishop]

You just made my day :P I was actually thinking of "Ring around the Roses" which is pretty annoying, I've got an irrational fear of David Bowie (he freaks me out ever since I watched him in "Labyrinth"), technically you can have a moose as a pet as long as you've got the right license and a certain amount of land. You haven't ever wanted a moose as a pet? FOR SHAME!!!! A moose once bit my sister (three cheers for Monty Python!!) and I can't believe you responded to my complaining!!!!! I feel so light and carefree!!! Like a feather!!! Okay, not like a feather but still....you're the best agony aunt ever!!!

[Shubham's View]

I like to do that, thank you! :D
I've only seen him in 'The Prestige', where he excellently portrayed Nikola Tesla!
yes, but they'll escape and then you need to go searching for it, everyday, pretty hectic, I prefer my dog, thank you! What's Monty Python got to do with a moose?
Well, I can use the Levitating Charm on you just to make you feel like a feather :D

[Becca Bishop]

Haven't you ever watched the credits of Monty Python and the Holy Grail? No? SHUNNED!!!!! And I guess it would suck if your pet kept running away... *sigh* I guess I'll have to wait on the moose. And you'll by my bestest buddy ever if you can use a levitating charm to make me feel like a duck!!! I mean a feather!!!! But being a duck would be pretty darn awesome :D

[Shubham's View]

No, sadly I have only a vague recollection of it eve existing, a duck? Why a duck? How about a gosling? Laws of elemental transfiguration prevent me from turning humans into Animagi, so sorry :D

[Becca Bishop]

I'm seriously going to have to stop reading your comments so late at night. I start laughing and then my parents run downstairs to see what's going on and make sure I'm not finally making a break for it. And you need to go watch MPHG right now. I mean RIGHT...NOW..... Why not a duck? It'd be super weird if I wanted to be a slug i: Sheesh. At least ducks are cute! And when you put smiley faces after your apologies it makes me think that you're not really that sorry :P Sorry! :D :D

[Shubham's View]

Well then you can always be the early bird, they'll thank you for being the rooster.
Will pin it up on the to watch list and will watch when I find a decent torrent. :D
Oh you should definitely make a break for it!! It would be nice to have the local PD going nuts over you :D
Well yeah quack quacks are better than slime obviously, but then again, ducks are dumb. And what makes you think I meant the apology, for my heart? Words can be misleading sometimes my friend :D