Beyond The Grave Of Beni Blue

Beyond the grave of Beni Blue was an aging twisting branching Yew Young Beni liked to play and hide as he did the day he died In a forgotten graveyard corner it grew hiding a doorway known by few The thick gnarled trunk cast in the dark a secret portal in the bark To another land the passage went its traveller far away was sent but what young Beni didn’t know was who once lived there long ago A witch was said to rule the land a lonely hag who had one hand for the other was taken by the beast she kept who bit it off when the woman slept The beast it grew, outliving the crone now ruling the land, it stood alone This monster was a Fire-Tongue a red and scaly huge dragon It roared its tongue of deadly flame clearing the land of all who came When Beni arrived, the beast was sleeping But on seeing it there, he started weeping The boy hid and cowered with fear as the dragon searched far and near sensing the stranger who came to his lair the smell of a boy who shouldn’t be there Beni was found and the monster roared a stick the boy threw, like a spear it soared piercing deep into the beast’s eye Beni froze as he watched it die Jumping back through the secret door Beni vowed to return no more As old age claimed and boy became man he remembered the Yew and hatched a plan He found the portal as best he could tell but now much older he stumbled and fell into the mouth of the long dead beast its fire still stirred, an unexpected feast The dragon gave a final roar blasting remains through the secret door Now Beni guards the passageway a warning to all never to stray So beware the graveyard corner’s dark and the secret portal in the bark of the aging twisting branching Yew beyond the grave of Beni Blue