constructing poetry

a royal birth

once, when the world was incredibly young,
a wise king ruled the land, though he wanted a son.
his queen was so beautiful, wonderful, fair—
and barren—their voices rose skyward in prayer:
“please answer our please we’ve given our best—
ruled both justly and fairly—withstood every test,
but without a strong prince for a wise and just heir,
our people and kingdom will lack proper care.”

their voice rose daily and into the night,
until in a dream the queen saw a fine sight—
an iridescent soul came to bring her a son.
she knelt and she pled, “please let him be the one.”
the angel replied, “this young baby I hold
will someday be enlightened. will you be so bold
as to think you could mother this most special boy?”
the queen reached for the baby, “I’ll raise him with joy.”
but as she enveloped the boy in her arms,
he was heavy as a mountain, and she woke in alarm.

she rushed to the king with the news of her dream—
but he knew it already, he’d shared dreams with his queen.

in the due course of time the queen bore a strong son
he was generous, wise, a benevolent one,
but as he grew older the world made him sad—
the myriad injustices the heartaches, the bad,
made him want to be wiser to fix the world’s woes
so he gave up his crown to a kind man that he chose
to lead the kingdom, to be stalwart and brave,
while the young princeling adjourned to a cave.

for eons he lived contemplating the earth
and growing enlightened—as was told ere his birth,
then he saved the heavens from a terrible bother—
and was called to rule there as the Heaven’s Grandfather.

and thus we can see that the dreams of our hearts
will lead to some end never seen at that start.

line count: 34

Prompt ▼

Prompt for: Feb 15 (RenFyn)
Subject or Theme: Any myth surrounding the Jade Emperor or his kin. You are a wandering storyteller sitting by a fire spinning out a story for your supper.
Word(s) to Include: iridescent, myriad, eon (or any derivatives of these words)
Forbidden Word(s): god, deity, emperor, myth, child (or any derivatives of these words)
Additional Parameters: Be descriptive!!! Rhyming Remember, do not use forbidden words ANYWHERE, including title or the brief description.

The myth I chose is from: http://www.shenyunperformingarts.org/learn/article/read/item/5KxYN1eLG6k/great-j...