Evil Robot Nightmare

Yes, I really had this dream. The poem was written for a friendly poem-a-day challenge with a friend.

 

 

 

 

Long dreamtime hours last night I spent

Aboard a stolen ship,

A towering mass and maze of steel

With pirates at my hip

 

Where we came from and where we went

I never seemed to know

The one and only thing for sure

Was a terror down below

 

The former crew had left behind

Something we did not ken:

A robot fierce, with teeth and claws,

That loved the flesh of men

 

This nightmare thing, when finally seen,

Put terror in our hearts

And that was when our pirate’s dream

Began to fall apart

 

The thing at first was in a pit,

We thought with no way out

This birthed our captain’s wicked scheme

Which we then carried out

 

“The prisoners’d make a mighty feast

“To sate its appetite.

“Toss half a dozen in that hole

“And we’ll move up a flight.”

 

I did not trust that oubliette

To hold the thing at bay

And to escape the prisoners’ screams

I softly slipped away

 

When pirates began screaming, too,

I knew that I was right:

The evil, killer robot

Was loosed upon the night

 

Stairways that looked open

All suddenly would end

We’d try to climb around them

Or turn and seek again

 

And meanwhile, oh!, that awful thing,

That mass of clanking steel,

Could somehow move like Death’s own ghost

While seeking its next meal

 

 

      * * * * *

 

 

Postscript:

 

 

When I awoke, I hung above

A chasm wide and deep

And that awful metal monster

Pursued me from my sleep

 

With trembling legs I rose and washed

And, shivering once or twice,

I wondered if I’d manage to

Find sleep again that night

 

Reviews

[Ember]

I actually really like this poem, Daryl. You're really good at rhyming and rhythm.