Disclaimer and author's note: This is a poem about Neopets. I make no claim to any official connection to the site other than as a player. And yes, as you might imagine from where it ends, this was written before the Battle for Meridell was entirely over.
Ballad of the Battle for Meridell
p. 420
Oh, Darigan once was the fairest of lands
An empire that prospered and flourished.
A magical orb in its ruler's strong hands
Guaranteed all its people were nourished.
By the best of the earth,
By the best of the sky,
Were Darigan's people well nourished.
But Meridell did in dire poverty bide;
From famine and illness they suffered.
A desperate king sent his knights far and wide
Seeking aid that their ills might be buffered.
So the knights riding forth
Sought with desperate eye
Relief from the ills that they suffered.
An old Kyrii clever and wise in the Sight
At last gave them hope for their nation:
A magical orb yielding health and delight
Making Darigan their destination.
As he watched them go forth,
The old Kyrii did smile.
He'd no love for Darigan's nation.
A few days' hard riding across a plateau
Showed Darigan's glory lay basking
But Meridell feared (sad to say, rightly so)
That they'd find little help for the asking.
So they captured the orb
And for home swiftly hied --
And Meridell bloomed, nothing lacking.
But Darigan wasted through Meridell's glee;
While one grew the other was failing,
And Darigan's lord turned at last to the Three
Who gave power for greed and for railing.
What's their gift truly worth?
Give a victory cry,
Then weep at the price of your failing.
Soon Meridell trembled; the Citadel rose
O'er the land it at last had found thriving.
The battle was joined; Neopians chose
Between sides they could take in the striving.
At last Darigan's force
Took the day and the prize
With conquest the end of the striving.
But Darigan's orb gave its blessings no more;
The Citadel's people still languished.
And much to their horror, the Citadel's lord
Went insanely destructive in anguish.
So the sides joined force
Up in Meridell's sky;
The orb broke when its master was vanquished.
But after the treaty, the general Kass
Took power by playing on feelings
Remaining -- the fear and resentment at last
With the Three, made new war seem appealing.
For see Meridell's earth
Still abloom in its prime
While Darigan still waits for healing.
The battle seemed hopeless when Borodere fell
With Meridell crushed and still reeling
But Jeran's is only one story to tell
And a child brought Lord Darigan's healing.
Let the Three's power burst
And the Bat-Thing arise
For your people still wait for their healing.