Entombed Beauty
A knight from a victorious battle stopped by a pub
Where he met a drunken man singing an odd ballad.
It was about his wife as a witch whom he first loved.
But her dark arts terrified him that he wished her dead.
The witch finally died when she gave birth to a girl.
As the years went by, she looked more like her mother.
Then, the drunken man started laughing manically.
He told the knight that he feared the witch returned.
And so, he took his daughter to her mother's tomb.
He left her there in the dark and shut her forever.
The knight ignored the foolish tale and went away.
Before the sun set, the knight had reached the hills
Where the grass embraced crosses and headstones.
Out of the grim silence, a cry of help echoed in the air.
It came from a lone hill near a forest of shadows.
Below the hill, there stood a sepulcher of green marble.
On the door, there engraved the name of Asenath
And inside it, there screamed a damsel in distress.
The knight opened the huge door with all his strength.
With the light of the setting sun, he then saw her.
She was sitting on top of a coffin, crying, shivering.
Yet, her beauty still shone amidst the repulsive gloom.
The knight reached out for her to get out of the dark.
Yet, she wouldn't. The roses surrounded her she said.
They came from the shadows and joined her prison.
They were crawling about, prickling, sniggering, hissing,
Foretelling her doom inside that tomb…with them.
This is how powerful and deadly the imagination is.
Seeing that her fear wouldn't let her come to him,
The knight went inside and brushed away the roses.
I am Sir Leander. There is nothing to fear anymore.
Then, he carried her outside to the light of the sun.