Re: Rob's Rhymes

Thank you, I like to put a twist in the tale if I can.

Re: Rob's Rhymes

I based this one on the traditional folk song ...

They buried him two inches deep
and for months there wasn't a peep
And then with barely a sound
he forced his head out of the ground

For months he grew tall and grew straight
until it was time for his fate
In his prime he was cut to the ground
and then with his comrades was bound

They beat him with flails and with whips
until, in his skin, appeared rips
Then they laid him down on the floor
and over him, water, did pour

They boiled all his juices away
and left him alone for a day
Then they sealed him away in a vat
until he grew cold and quite flat

Next they poured what was left in a keg
with the essence of white of an egg
They then left him once more for a while
and then moved him for many a mile

In a dungeon so dark and so cold
with walls that were covered with mould
they left him a day and a night
until his condition was right

Then they pulled him out into the light
and he looked such a beautiful sight
As brown as the robe of a monk
John Barleycorn finally got drunk

Re: Rob's Rhymes

AUTUMN (my favourite season)

Autumn, twilight of the year
in the Northern Hemisphere
Misty mornings, low bright sun
Conkers, children having fun

Cobwebs span the shrubs and plants
with dew-drops shining to entrance
Lazy smoke from chimney stacks
the Winter's wood piled up in racks

On the trees, leaves turning brown
with the first winds they'll come down
Oak trees flush with green acorns
Leaves, wind scattered on our lawns

Soon comes the Autumn Equinoxe
and time to wind back all our clocks
Orchard trees put on their show
with rose red apples all aglow

Geese fly in from arctic lands
Thousands land on coastal strands
Hedgehogs feeding up for sleep
they'll hibernate through winter deep

The farmer tills exhausted fields
and spreads manure for next year's yields
In the sea not much changes
except for cod, as south, they ranges

Harvest home and halloween
Children's faces painted green
Soon will come our bonfire night
with fireworks and rockets flaring bright

Autumn, prelude to winter's drear
as festive season does draw near
Autumn, if I may be so bold
that's it's story, briefly told

Re: Rob's Rhymes

Terrific stuff Rob, and a great variety of subjects , loved them all but especially ‘Gothic’, I’ve always been a horror fan.

Re: Rob's Rhymes

Thanks Jem. As you like the macabre, here's another ...

THE RETURN OF THE WAMPHYRI

A pint of blood upon the ashes
Lightning strikes and thunder crashes
Where blood lands the ashes hissed
and then appeared an evil mist

The thralls are waiting at the gate
The master's coming but he's late
The rituals have all been performed
and the castle has been stormed

A carriage thunders through the wood
bringing its passenger in his hood
The castle walls do soon draw nigh
and can be heard an expectant cry

What eldritch occupant is this
that passes 'neath the portcullis
The gates swing back, it thunders through
The one who's been called, now is due

Inside the castle's gloomy keep
the shadows fall dark and deep
The ancient doors now open wide
A tall dark spectre stalks inside

The thralls, excited, gather round
It is their master that they've found
The figure throws it's hood from place
and then reveals a ghastly face

The skin is deathly in human terms
and from his mouth are crawling worms
The mouth then opens deep and wide
to reveal four fangs deep inside

A voice is heard, more like a hiss
Long have the thralls awaited this
They fall and clasp his taloned feet
He's back from his humiliating defeat

He then throws wide his night black cloak
and from his throat there comes a croak
"Those who kneel and worship me
from death, forever, will be free"

The thralls present themselves as one
He drinks his fill, omitting none
And with each draught of blood he takes
his hundred year long thirst he slakes

Now he's fulfilled his evil need
all around, dead thralls do bleed
He laughs and hurries from the room
Leaving the dead within the gloom

He climbs the stairs right to the top
No obstacles left, he will not stop
At the highest point he pauses
and gathers up his evil forces

Then he throws his cloak aside
and spreads his leathery wings out wide
He launches high into the night
Now all mankind will cower in fright

Re: Rob's Rhymes

Well, well, well welcome to the poets circle – great stuff Rob – I particularly liked Trinity – that one could keep the reader guessing a few times! – Companion – an endless everlasting story – drags the heart strings! – and Apocalypse Now – how apt with all our worlds insurrections, and I am viewing the film Apocalypse Now for the second time! – Pilgrimage with a sting in it’s tail! They’re all VG but these strike a chord for me! Thanks

Re: Rob's Rhymes

Thanks Gumbud for your comments. "Apocalypse Now", great film. Sometimes I like to anthropomorphise an object, animal or even an abstract concept. This is another environmentaly themed rhyme ...

FINAL WARNING

Mankind, you're so proud and tall
You really think you know it all
And once you had discovered fire
to such great heights you did aspire

Once, gladly, of myself I gave
but now your plan is to enslave
Do you think it is your right
to consign whole species to the night

You rob the forests of their trees
and think you can do as you please
Disfigure me in your quest for oil
and with your wastes, my seas despoil

My rivers now flow red as blood
choked and dying with your crud
I've pleaded, but to no avail
as you wiped out the mighty whale

My atmosphere is choked with fumes
just to heat your fancy rooms
Radiation blights the ground
Everywhere your footprint's found

Pesticides pollute your crops
Acids taint the pure raindrops
My icecaps melt with global warming
A hole in the ozone layer is forming

I am your home, your ONLY home
Amongst the stars you'll never roam
Will you then, your home destroy
with these methods you employ?

You care not for this pollution
What then, mankind, is the solution
Should I let you on Earth remain
or wipe you out and start again

Mankind take heed you have been warned
So far my warnings have been scorned
One day soon you'll feel my rage
I'll knock you back to the stone age

With earthquakes I'll destroy a city
Too late then to ask for pity
With fire and storm and tidal wave
I'll consign you to the grave

What you've done makes no sense
Now I demand much recompense
Mankind, betrayer, of you I tire
Heed my words ... my name is Gaia

Re: Rob's Rhymes

yes 'anthropomorphise' did something similiar on RJ poetry corner called "never never landscapes" about the Kimberely region of Western Australia an truly magical and awe-inspiring land!

Re: Rob's Rhymes

I am enjoying reading your poetry Rob. Good to see Gaia invoked.

Re: Rob's Rhymes

Thanks RJ, I've done The Horsemen and Gaia, I'll have to see if I can do something with the three "fates" ... Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos.