Home Genre drama Hero's Song - A Novel in Verse [complete]

Chapter 08 - The Condemned

  Sitting in a dungeon, chains upon his hands and feet

  waiting for his trial, and understanding his defeat

  when he slept he dreamt about that wretched captain`s face

  one day if he could he`d like to teach that fool his place

  All he had to eat were bits of bread inside his cell

  trying to ignore an ever nauseating smell

  the dungeon had no windows but a torch was always lit

  filling up the room with smoke that made him cough and spit

  One day just by chance another criminal was jailed

  claiming he had tried to steal a neighbour`s cow and failed

  "maybe when I tried to take it, someone might`ve died

  they can`t prove the knife was mine though, someone must have lied"

  The thief was in the cell beside the hero`s for a week

  talkative at first but soon too sick and tired to speak

  the hero didn`t like the man, but loneliness set in

  he asked the man if he had heard about the hero`s sin

  "You`re a big celebrity," the laughing thief had said

  "no one in the kingdom will be happy til you`re dead"

  the hero didn`t ask another question after that

  quietly he wondered on the future where he sat

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  The thief was later taken to be hanged for what he`d done

  once again alone, the hero longed to see the sun

  days turned into weeks, and then he heard a jailor say

  "for crimes against the kingdom, you`ll be tried and hanged today"

  The prisoner was led before the royal court to stand

  to answer for his crimes, the very worst in all the land

  they accused him of so many crimes that he lost count

  most of them relying on the victim`s own account

  Due to his assault on their own prince`s royal ship

  meant to forge a treaty on a diplomatic trip

  endless war had only gotten worse in recent years

  not a widow in the land would ever dry their tears

  Then the final verdict was delivered by a judge

  every word he spoke to carry every person`s grudge

  "by this pirate`s sword a son was taken from our king

  there can be no mercy now for such an evil thing"

  The boy could only guess that it was true what they had said

  if the prince had fought him then, the prince was truly dead

  still he tried to justify the life he had to live

  surely his was still a crime that someone could forgive

  But every voice he heard at trial was full of rage and spite

  endless hours of accusations echoed left and right

  the only silent person was the king who sadly sighed

  looking at the princess full of anger by his side

  Since she was a young girl she`d been longing for the sea

  like the queen, the child was kind but stubborn as could be

  when he told her she could join her brother, like a fool

  how could he have known that she`d return so cold and cruel

  The princess didn`t show a shred of mercy at the trial

  watching that boy suffer was the only time she`d smile

  it seemed like any moment she would kill him then and there

  then the court was shocked to hear the king himself declare

  "This pirate took my son from me and stole our kingdom`s gold

  and brought our royal servants to an auction to be sold

  he brought my daughter back, perhaps to ease his guilty mind

  but to this pirate`s act of mercy, I`ll respond in kind

  Pirate, if redemption really is what you now seek

  maybe you shall find it on a battlefield so bleak

  you pirates stole our chance of diplomatic means for peace

  so go and fight the way you like, until the battles cease"

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