Why do you stand and cry?
You stood beside him in the cannon fire
And there you watched him die.
Mourners, oh dear mourners,
Your tears won't make him live.
Be grateful for a man who fought for you
And gave all that he could give.
Southland, beloved Southland,
He fought for you long and brave.
Proudly he wore his tattered gray coat,
Now he wears it in his grave.
**********
The Devil's Garden
There is no peace, for love is dead,
And truth is but a falsehood
Laid before a garden path
That leads to Evil's stronghold;
So enter there the walls that flow
With silver ivy and the gold.
Beneath the flowered portal lay
The embers of a burning soul
In decadence and raw decay,
The rattled bones of grinning hell.
The anguished screams and rotting flesh
Are mixed with sulfur's acid smell
And mingles with the scent of sweet,
'Til none suspect what Horrors dwell
Within this wall so tempting.
Come in;
Give me your soul!
**********
The Fairie Glade
Far, far away in the fairie glade,
Strange tales are often told
Of a maiden there with long black hair
And her hero, brave and bold.
How they met one night in the cold moon light,
While the ghosts were in the trees,
Then her kinfolk came and cursed his name
As they beat him to his knees.
With blades of steel, they made their kill,
There among the trees.
They left him dead where his blood flowed red
While the ghosts watched silently.
Then they took the maid from the forest glade
And tied her to a steed.
Away they rode towards their home
Undaunted by their deed.
The wind, once mild, grew fierce and wild
'til it bent the forest trees;
The lightning flashed, the thunder crashed,
And the ground shook mightily.
Before them swelled the king of Hell;
The men dropped to their knees.
The ground cracked wide and they fell inside,
As the ghosts laughed in the trees.
'Tis best, they say, to stay away
From the haunted fairie glade,
But if late at night it should come in sight,
You might see the long haired maid.
On the grass she lies, while before your eyes,
Her lover does appear.
He holds her tight, there in the light
Of a pale moon, softly sheer.
*********
The Gold
The moment was now,
The sweat on his brow
Ran like an icy river.
He rubbed his hands
On his dirty pants;
Emotion made him shiver.
The marks were clear,
The spot was here;
He pulled the brush away.
A pile of rock;
'Twas this he sought
When he left Samon that day.
The horde of gold
That his partners stole
When they left him there for dead,
With his body broke
On the rocks below
And a bullet in his head.
But he hadn't died;
He had survived
And he'd hunted down the knaves.
The pale, cold sun
Glinted on the gun
As he sent them to their graves.
He moved the rocks;
With his rifle stock
He scooped the earth away.
A bit of rag
Then a dozen bags,
Like eggs in a nest they lay.
He hid the gold
In his blanket roll,
Then saddled up the bay.
He turned the horse
Towards the north
And silently rode away.
*********
The Joker's Not The Only Fool
The castle lay hushed in the pre-dawn hours
When word from the king came down;
He'd have her head on a silver tray,
If the good queen could be found.
In the dark of night she slipped away
With her lover, Sir Isaac Brown.
Now the king assembled his finest knights
And ordered them hunted down.
"Leave no stone left unturned," he said.
"Check every pub and inn.
Let them not escape me now;
She'll pay for her bloody sin!
It's not that I care so much for my wife,
I've women a-plenty, of course.
It isn't embarrassment or pride;
She's stolen my very best horse."
**********
The Maid in the Woods
At the edge of the woods
Three figures stood
Wrapped in cloaks of red;
One with a sword,
One with a bow,
And one with a crown on his head.
Then from the trees
There stirred a breeze,
Heavy with sweet perfume,
And a maid with eyes
The shade of skies
Stood silent in the gloom.
She beckoned the men
And they entered in,
Plunging through the brush.
The trees so high
They blocked the sky
And ferns grew thick and lush.
They followed the maid
Through weary days
As she guided their pathless way
And by night they camped,
Huddled in the damp
As the mist rose thick and gray.
But as each day passed
The mood changed fast;
The men cast eyes on the maid.
They lingered longer,
The tension grew stronger,
Tempers flared and nerves were frayed.
Then late one night
In the firelight
The beast took control of the men
And they forced their way
Upon the maid
There in the wooded glen.
Then with hearts of stone,
They left her alone
And fell asleep by the fire.
A roar from the dark
Woke them with a start,
To find their position was dire.
In the firelight's glow
A face like a toad,
Three times the height of the men,
With bulging eyes,
The shade of skies,
And an evil, ugly grin.
They shrieked as one
And tried to run,
But there was no place to go.
A pale yellow tongue,
Thin and long,
Shot from the mouth of the toad.
'round the men it wrapped
And with a snap
Its hunger it appeased.
Her revenge was apt
As her hollow laugh
Echoed through the trees.
**********
The Rusty Knight
The knight stood there in rusty armor,
And swore to her he'd never harm her,
Then with his broadsword cut her down
And left her bloody on the ground.
The hero rode on his horse of white
Through the forest, dark and black as night.
He held in his hand a mighty glaive
And vowed the maiden he would save;
But he found his lovely lady dead,
And his heart was turned to a lump of lead.
He shrieked his curses to the sky
And swore the rusty knight would die.
He hunted the villain all around,
For thirty years from town to town;
But his heart was broke when he found the knave,
And he died in tears on the rusty grave.
**********
The Tale of Portino
The wind was sobbing in the trees
Of Freedom Pass near the Codgenese
Where lusty hero, Portino,
Rode with his armor all aglow.
Then a shriek broke through the autumn peace
And the path was blocked by a fearsome beast.
O'er eighty meters from foot to head
With iron scales of scarlet red.
It's fangs were long and yellow spikes;
It's tongue was forked and poised to strike.
The hero raised his mighty lance
As the great steed did it's battle dance;
Hooves pounded thunder as he charged
Towards the monster looming large.
The weapon struck with such a force
The hero tumbled from his horse.
The steed reared high and cried in fright,
Then raced away, far out of sight.
Portino sprang to his feet,
Gripped his sword and met the beast.
In bloody combat, cruel and raw,
'Tween sword and muscle, fang and claw.
They slashed and ripped through flesh and bone;
The air was thick with anguished moans.
All day they battled with no rest;
The sun slowly faded in the west.
The path flowed crimson with their blood
As it pooled and mingled in the mud.
The monster thumped its massive tail;
The ground shook so the hero fell.
The sword went flying from his fist
And in the dark the great beast hissed.
The hero felt it's hot foul breath
And he could smell the stench of death
Pass o'er him like the shade of doom
As the monster's bulk blocked out the moon.
The lightning flashed and thunder rolled;
The wind, once warm, blew wild and cold.
In the hero's veins his blood did freeze;
He rolled and scrambled to his knees,
His fingers searching for the sword
They grasped the hilt; the great beast roared.
It pounced upon the hapless knight
Who thrust his sword with all his might.
Blood gushed forth and sprayed the man
As he felt the monster's claws dig in
And squeeze with all the power of hell.
His bones were cracked, his face was swelled;
His lungs were crushed and he gasped in vain,
His senses reeled from rage and pain.
The world turned black, the hero swooned;
Blood still spewed from the monster's wound.
It shuddered as it breathed it's last,
Then toppled down upon the path.
The hero landed by its side
And in the monster's blood he died.
**********
The Tale of the Barrol
The parunus plants are blooming
And the perry blossoms blow
As the summer winds call softly
to the hero, Faireno.
"Beware, beware," they call to him,
"The Barrol's treachery."
But the hero didn't listen
And the hero didn't see.
Four golden rulies hit the dust
Of the savage planet Harroll;
The Barrol picked the gold coins up
And the hero fell in peril.
Good Faireno gripped firm his hand,
"No truer friend have I."
But the hero didn't notice
The shifting of the eye.
The Barrol kissed his best friend's hand
As he thrust the silver dagger.
With words of love still on his lips
The hero slowly staggered.
Then he fell down upon the ground
And in his blood he died.
The Barrol fell upon his knees
And the hall rang with his cries.
The servant knocked upon the door,
And before his master bowed.
The old man stood in robes of white
With a crown upon his brow.
He bade the Barrol enter in
As the servant did withdraw.
"The deed is done; he is no more."
And the Barrol's heart was raw.
The old man smiled an evil smile
'Til he saw the bloody dagger,
Then deep it plunged into the heart
Of the Lord of Astinagger.
The wind was sharp as it wildly blew
And it shrieked like a mad man's cries.
The Barrol stood by the cold black lake;
His sword hung by his side.
'Twas lust for gold that doomed his soul
And brought him to this end.
'Twas lust for gold that turned him cold
And murdered his best friend.
Once more he raised his bloody hand
And prayed his soul find peace.
Once more he raised his bloody hand
And plunged the dagger deep.
**********
The Tower and the Sea
The maid sat at the tower window
And sang to the lonely sea,
"Oh, god of the ocean, hear my song
And send a ship to me."
But a ship didn't come, the years went by,
And the maiden was no longer young,
When she cried to the sea, "Oh, tell me please,
What is it that I've done?"
But the sea just crashed against the rocks
And it did not hear her cry.
It did not care 'bout the maiden fair
And the years slowly crawling by.
The ship was proud, the wind was stout,
And the captain's beard was graying.
He searched the seas for his stolen love
Taken years ago by raiders.
In anguish he cried to the empty sky,
"Oh, how many seas must I sail?
When will I find the love of my life,
For I'll die before I fail."
One day the wind died and the rushing tide
Floated the great ship landward
Where the captain saw a tower tall
And the wreck of a ship on a sandbar.
First he felt sad, then he thought himself mad,
For the ship was the raider's, he'd swear.
And over the deck of the derelict wreck
Was their bones lying cold and bare.
He leaped in the sea and swam to the beach;
He climbed up the rocky cliff.
In what seemed hours, he reached the tower
But the old latch would not lift.
He grasped a stone, though it cut to the bone,
He beat on the stout wood door.
Soaked in his blood, each hollow thud
Made it weaker than before.
With a snap and a groan, it tore from the stone,
And the door fell free from the wall.
His heart beat fast as he gazed in the dark
To the figure that stood in the hall.
Had he indeed found the maid of his dreams,
His love he had lost long ago?
In the shadow she stood, like a statue of wood,
Then she stepped in the glow of the window............
**********
Bonnie Mutchler has written hundreds of poems since her childhood, several of which have been published in anthologies. She lives in
Missouri with her one eyes cat Blinky and loves her Super Poke Pet, Clucky.
You can find Bonnie on:
MySpace: https://www.myspace.com/moonvapors
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bonnie.mutchler
The Egg of Orlin Page 3
