literature

The World's End

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Daily Deviation

December 2, 2016
The World's End by ThornyEnglishRose has a haunting rhyme that harmonize with the dark and mysterious feel of the The Word's End pub, and its murderously alluring spyglass.
Featured by doughboycafe
Suggested by Domaex
ThornyEnglishRose's avatar
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Literature Text

Where ravens feast on mortal sin,
The world ends at a clifftop inn
Whose greeting is a fleshless grin
From pirates' gibbet at the door.
This lonely structure is adorned
With bodies of those men unmourned,
With sign proclaiming Ye be warned,
And always room enough for more.

Our story, though, tells not of this,
This feared, this known, this bland abyss,
But rather of the promised bliss
A spyglass offers to these men.
For if, once fear has gripped his mind,
Our pirate's hand, then eye should find
The spyglass hidden just behind
The rotting gibbet post, well then...

Well, then he runs, or jumps, or flies,
(That is to say, the fellow tries,)
Enticed by promises – no – lies
Of life at sea forever more.
A sultry mermaid beckons him
To where no mortal man can swim,
He knows he'll gain a fish's limb
If he can just escape the shore.

No mermaid waits for him out there,
No mermaid sits and shakes her hair,
No mermaid even set the snare,
For she is only in the glass.
Though lifeless, frozen in her dive,
At brink of death she seems alive,
So desperate men will often strive
To reach the image closed in brass.

But what then, if those pirates die?
Condemned already, all know why,
And in their hearts can justify
The deaths of these marauding bands.
But all of that was long ago,
Now no one near has sunk so low,
Yet what a dreadful thing to know
That glass lies now in childish hands.

Her parents, dreaming of a pub,
Of quizzes, darts, the village hub,
Have bought the place and dragged their cub
To clifftop where she knows no friend.
The curse persists, the lens is stained
With tempting image unexplained,
The child beholds it unrestrained,
And leaves behind her The World's End.

Halloween is coming round again, so here is my entry for Memnalar's All Hallow's Tales Contest: Cabinet of Curiosities.

My curiosity from Jay's cabinet (which I like to think really exists) happens to be: A spyglass with an image imprinted on one of its lenses by unknown means.

When I got this prompt, it occurred to me I could finally do something with the idea of the pub called The World's End. It was inspired by a place in Dorset in which my family and I ate lunch many years ago, and the story behind the name is absolutely true (or so they told us).

This is the first time Jay has allowed poetry in his Halloween contest and, as you can see, I have written a poem. I had imagined I'd write prose, which I tend to prefer, but then the story I came up with just seemed to lend itself to verse - which, by the way, has brought the whole thing to a much darker ending than originally conceived. I now feel very cruel to my poor character!

Line count: 48

© 2016 - 2024 ThornyEnglishRose
Comments25
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doughboycafe's avatar
Hey there! Feedback coming at ya

Obvs I loved this cos I DDed it, but I have to say, you really did a great job with the spooky atmosphere, and absolute bonus points for 1. use of meter 2. great rhymes, and 3. you used gibbet-post and I love that. I can't say enough things that I like about this poem, truly.

there are only two lines that didn't work for me here and one of them is the first: I didn't understand the idea of ravens eating sin. Ravens feasting is great, but if something is feasting on sin I don't know why it would be them. Maybe instead they're watching people wallow or mire themselves in sin? I don't know, just spitballing here. The second line that didn't really work for me was "bland abyss" - abyss is such a strong word, I don't know how it could be bland, and I couldn't get my head around the image or the feel of this. deep abyss maybe?

Anyhow, you should red pen this and try to get it published, it's a great piece.