The Scoundrel and The Ice QueenA Poem by John Stussy
A young retired pirate assassin
Came onto the shore one day
Looking for fame to his name
And gold to line his pockets.
A challenge he heard
In the region of his new home
Of a Vampire Queen
Thirsting for blood.
Men feared her wrath
And steered clear of her fangs,
Preferring the safety
Of their small homes.
He nearly died laughing
At the idea of the “danger”
Presented in such a simple adventure.
He’d served under a legend
Fighting men and sea monsters,
Death was nothing more than a tool.
A feeding session with the Queen
Would be barely anything.
So he strolled to her palace
And met the Ice Queen
In her magnificent stronghold
Of solid ice and reflective light.
It was almost as beautiful
A sight he had seen
As the love of his Captain
And a wondrous blade-deft angel.
Monsters live in caves,
Not within palaces of ice.
The terrible woman living within
Must simply use her power of nobility
To strike terror into the serfs.
Such an adversary should be easy
Just stride in with confidence
And let her take her amount.
Pirates bleed strong
And assassins live long.
Her gift of immortality
She bestowed upon him well.
He had overcome her simple challenge
And she had fed her fill.
Then she tried to have him in
Her honor guard and court.
Such a place is not a place for a rogue,
Scoundrels like him cannot sit still.
He left her company
And lived off of the roads
Pillaging and plundering
The over-rich nobles.
He started a rogue group
And split his riches with them,
Giving the peasant families
A vast income.
His name spread across her kingdom
Making his huge ego grow tenfold.
He and her conversed through messengers
And they steadily grew into rivals.
War was declared this night
Between the two opponents.
A war of silence it was to be
Until she ordered his head on a plate.
The guards found him wandering the roads
And chased him through the woods
Attempting to slay the rogue
In his own little kingdom.
One by one he picked them off,
Letting them get lost in the dense trees
And stuck in their heavy armor
In the thick underbrush.
His rapier pierced every body
And he left one alive to run back home
To speak of the fate
Of his fellow guardsmen.
The war was inevitable,
The fat was deep into the fire.
Two forces began combining
Preparing for an epic clash.
He and she now stand on opposing hills
And shout insults at one another,
Making promises of torture
And death upon each other.
Who shall win this epic war?
It matters not who really wins
The actual combat in the end,
For it is my name that shall be going down
In the songs of her serfs
Passed down through generations
And remembered for the rest of time
In stories told around drinks and fires.
© 2008 John Stussy
Featured Review
Reviews
|
Stats
504 Views
12 Reviews Shelved in 2 Libraries
Added on February 22, 2008AuthorJohn StussyAZAboutCook, writer, reader, musician. I don't bte, unless asked to or bitten first. My site's link is to some recordings of my poetry, and I might add some recordings of me playing my sax onto there too... more..Writing
Related WritingPeople who liked this story also liked..
|