A Tryst With Fantasy
He's closed the blinds. His twilight dawns.
A midday reverie.
Within his mind, a vision spawns,
awash in mystery.
*
A levee bursts, torrents crash free—
a castle from a dream.
Atop his throne, court bent on knee,
all hail: "Long live the King!"
*
Then suddenly, the hall doors boom.
"A beast! A beast has come!"
As herald wails, and dread consumes:
"The end! The end!" they run.
*
And as he flees, all whimsy gone,
an echo beckons high.
Of beating wings, a chilling song,
a drumbeat from the sky.
*
He steps toward, all nerves afrost—
imagination wild.
A turret falls, asunder tossed—
both home and hearth defiled.
*
The creature belts—a savage shriek!—
black shadow borne aloft.
The king plants firm, through chattered teeth.
You coward! he self-scoffed.
*
A gusty gale, uproots his crown.
Gold ringing on the floor.
Stale, putrid breath, comes choking down.
He'll hide his gaze no more!
*
As four eyes meet, red versus blue,
stark mirrors of two souls.
His greatest fear, now clear as truth:
A wyvern is his foe!
*
One leath'ry wing, comes slashing in.
Its talon rife with flesh.
Unsheathed his blade, a slash akin,
their armaments enmesh.
*
The monster lands, around it whips—
forked tongue a slath'ring sight.
As from barbed tail, vile acid drips.
One prick—a deadly bite.
*
Brass hilt so slick, in sweat-drenched glove,
his lifeline sharp and true.
'Gainst rabid jaws, frothing above—
a witch's bile abrew!
*
A hack a thrust, a dash a dive.
One slip and he's devoured.
A lunge a snap, rampaging eyes!
A fiend by fury soured.
*
When by mere fluke—or was it fate?—
King's cleaving motion fast.
Condescending, full of hate,
the wyvern breathes its last.
*
Like Heracles, the labor won.
hallucination?— No!
A vict'ry yelp, The deed is done.
Now off to sleep he goes.
*
She tucks him in and gently from his fingers peels away,
A plastic sword, a pot-lid shield—which fantasy today?
So free—those fleeting days when visualization knows no end.
Her precious child, who's yet to learn, his kingdom's "just pretend".
Copyright ©
Nico Coar
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