The Bored Knight
A tired knight rode to his castle
After a long day of hassle.
He bowed to the land’s king, his lord,
“My liege, I’m incredibly bored,
I’m more like a stupid monkey
Than protector of royalty
I stand there at the outer gate
Like moldy food that no one ate.
Please, send me on some noble quest
That my virtue heaven may test.”
His lord replied, “Tell me good knight
Did you see a man of tall height
Who wore red, carried a sickle.”
The knight gave his chin a tickle,
And replied, “There was some fellow,
Who had wanted to say hello
To someone he said that he knew;
I had no word to let him through
And sent him home, despite his plea.
The King cried: “He was sent to kill me,
An assassin dressed as farmer!
Without a dent in your armor,
You stopped him from his evil quest,
Fighting boredom, you passed the test!”
The Kite
Dip and drop and flip and flop,
Riding high up to the top,
Sail and soar and flail and flow,
Through the wind that wildly blows,
Holding tight onto her kite
That in her hand seems to fight,
The little girl could not be
In any way more happy,
Her lofty thoughts, like the kite,
Climb up to the greatest height,
Dipping, dropping, flipping, flop,
Ridding, gliding, tippy top,
Sailing, soaring, flailing, flow,
Going, going, going, go!
Gray Rocky Bay
The little girl and family
Walked along the gray rocky bay.
The thick mist made it feel scary
As the girl and her brother play.
Suddenly, through the girl’s third eye,
She saw darkness cover the sky;
Something no one else there could spy
No matter how their flesh eyes try.
The girl stood still, afraid darkness
Would wrap around her if she budged
And suck her into its abyss;
In pain and fear she would be lodged.
So, she cried and her family
Looked around them confusedly,
Then, her dad knew the remedy;
He sat cross legged, silently.
He erected his palm midair,
Cleared his mind and sent righteous thoughts;
Light beamed into the evil’s lair,
Each shred of the evil was caught,
Dissolved and restored to goodness
As he sat in quiet firmness;
The world, at first a broken mess,
Became proper like the girl’s dress.
The spell was broken, the mist cleared
And they happily left the bay;
The righteous have nothing to fear,
On the bright path, they made their way.
Boy with Bat
This boy could hit anything with his bat;
Throw it in the air and hear “swoosh!” and “splat!”
One time, he hit the ball so hard and high
That it disappeared in the bright blue sky.
He looked everywhere but no sign of it.
“Wow, I’m awesome,” the boy had to admit
And continued to play with other balls
Until summer peeked and its leaves to fall,
Revealing a skeletal hand clutching
His toy, on its soft skin deeply scratching.
“No problem,” his dad plucked it from the bush.
Back to the game the two happily rushed.
The boy hit the new old ball with his bat;
His dad threw the ball and heard “swoosh!” and “splat!”
Evan Mantyk is a poet and English teacher living in New York.
Featured Image: “The Elgart Siblings” by Stone Roberts
I love these.
You describe the knight’s ennui so comically in the first stanza that I sort of wish you would allow him to gabber on about his condition further. The simile, “Like moldy food that no one ate,” is choice.