Another Knight’s Tale

The whole town shouted, “You can do it!
Embrace the chaos! Begin now!
Seize the day! Live life without a net!”
The people of the town cheered the young man,
Hardly older than the armor he wore,
From behind shadowed doorways and closed windows.

“Accomplish great things! Your only limit is you!
Be a warrior, not a worrier!”
The one got him worse than the others.
Because he worried. He worried a lot.
And he wanted more than anything to be a warrior.
That’s why he was in this dragon-plagued town, after all.

He tried not to worry while he strapped on
His shiny new longsword and climbed awkwardly
Into the saddle he had barely broken in.
He turned and rode away to the lonely mountain.
Behind him, inspirational banners fluttered,
Buffeted by a gust of wind. Or an impatient dragon’s wings.

Perhaps if he had worried a little more
He might have learned a few useful facts
From the townspeople, whose eyes never met his.
Like, for instance, how their peace and prosperity
Depended greatly on the quiescence of a well-fed dragon
And a burgeoning secondary market in lightly-used longswords.

If you hang around social media for any length of time in certain creative communities, you’ll see your share of motivational slogans. I got to wondering if such things existed in certain pseudo-medieval worlds and the poem went on from there.

This is the 30th poem of a project I dubbed “One Crazy September” earlier in the month. I’ve written and published a poem here every day this month and darned if I don’t feel just a tiny bit proud of the accomplishment.

(Photo Credit: molochszczecin on Pixabay)