by Joeyg

Created on: January 22, 2009

Trust no shadow

It wasn't the withering old tree,
That frightened me so,
Rather the shadowy man,
That crouched below.

He moved in a terrifying manner,
Each step forward, a twitch.
His skin hanging like drying laundry,
And the wrinkles on his face,
Sewn together with an odd stitch.

With the head of a rabbit he held in his left,
And the heart of the lion within his right.

"Listen to me my little lad," he said,
Teeth falling from his mouth,
With each word he hissed.
"To find the greatest secret to life,
You must find the courage to defeat,
Neither lion nor rabbit be your foe,
This be the wretched demon below your feet.

It has the eyes of ten monstrous snakes
And a body of bleeding thorns,
And merciless is he,
Erupting venom through fiery horns.

His name I will speak,
Only once I will speak,
Kell is his name,
For you to forget what I have said,
Will follow a thousand years of murky rain.

It lives below all life,
Where pleading souls live in peril
Amongst all death and strife,
And it knows all about you Darrell.

But before I can continue
I ask of you so,
A key to this mystery you must hold.
Does you have the heart of a lion
And the head of a rabbit?
Both be needed to achieve such a task.

Think hard for this is your last,
Your last chance to accept your great task.
To say aye or nay,
To my precious words of wisdom,
Which will determine your fate
Answer me now, before it is too late."

I looked at his spiny fingers,
Which resembled the roots of his tree.
For what I desired
Was indeed in his hands.
"Tell me old man,
What do you keep within your hands?"

His bones cracked as he leaned close,
His eyes black like burnt toast
Falling from their sockets, and
Rolling passed muddy loafers.

He reached out his hands,
and darkness seemed to follow,
Dangling my desired treasure.

"I hold nothing in my hand," he said.
"Be it this right
Or be it this left,
Emptiness is all I hold,
Regrettably I have no soul."

As I reached towards his hands
Plucking from them a great treasure,
A smile on his face seemed to cross
For his unknowing loss.

Now filled with gleaming glory,
In my right hand I held
A heart of a lion,
In my left
A head of a rabbit.

He stepped back into the shadows
And began to mold into the terrible tree.

"You have made your choice,
And now you will see
To darkness you will be.
The secret to all man's dreams
For eternity you will hold,
A rabbits lost soul
With nowhere to run,
And a lions heart
With the courage to grow old.

Now you may take my place
Below this ancient tree
Until the next time you see
For another you won't see
Because your eyes will become
Of soot and memory.

Instead you will tell
Of an ancient riddle from Kell,
And offer another like you
A free trip to hell."

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