The knight left the castle
From behind the safe walls
Rode off from his home
At earliest light
A wyrm of ancient age
Of enormous size
Was dwelling nearby
And had been
Terrorizing the folk
One knight versus one wyrm
Hardly a fair fight
It was a full on dragon they said
Breathing fire and casting doubt
But the knight wasn’t fearful
Nor was he brash or foolish
For his heart was true
His lance was strong
His flesh was young
And the wyrm slept long
And solidly
Without hesitation
Without despair
The knight rode hard
To the wyrm’s lair
There it slept
Hard, and breathed loudly
Clearly its pillage
Had taken a toll
Bones of cattle laid
Piled high
Dead from the feast
Remains of a herd of pigs as well
The wyrm had finished all
Now was sleeping
To wake and be recovered
Perhaps will dream of greater lands
To devastate
But those dreams would be unrealized
As the knight saw the beast
Laying unguarded
Urged his charger forward
And with a rush
Delivered
A resolute strike
The Wyrm rose up
Screaming
Dreadfully
Wildly flailing
And passed
The knight was not happy
But rather relieved
For the sight was such
That he’d go to his later grave
Wishing he’d stayed behind the castle walls
Wishing he’d never rode
Wishing he’d remained a coward
For he saw the end
Of the greatest beast
Of renown and power
Die in its sleep
Betrayed there
By its full belly
And human’s lance
“The man who fights too long against dragons becomes a dragon himself”
Friedrich Nietzsche
