"Once Upon a Time" by Skyler Crouse

Once Upon A Time

There once lived a lonely wizard

Who wore a pointed hat of blue,

He said the world was in your hands

And our prophecies rang true.

We asked him what he meant

And his wrinkled brow gave rise,

The amber of his campfire lit

Sad moonbeams in his eyes.

“Once upon a time,” he said,

“I walked across the sky,

I found the heart of Neptune

And I think I now know why.”

“But Neptune dwells not in the sky!”

You exclaimed bemusedly,

The wizard nodded, pipe in hand

And then replied confusedly,

“Once upon a time, there was

A child of Neptune born,

A child so filled with fury

That the seas were rife with scorn.

His dear father could not bear to see

His kingdom so forlorn,

So he in his madness slew

The child he could not mourn.

But with his onward guilt amounting

He bade that every ocean dry,

There was nothing still that could repent

The countless nights he cried.

But as the poisoned days went by

He knew with every bated breath,

That whilst he was victorious

The other was victorious in death.”

We took in his tortured tale

As he puffed rings and rings of smoke,

An ebony sky loomed overhead

The moment the silence broke.

“But what is this to our quest at hand?”

I inquired impatiently,

The wizard scowled, and rasped again

In whispers without glee;

“It means that Neptune took his life

And tore his heart out from his chest;

He placed it in the clouds in hope

His guilt would come to rest.

But no longer, for the skies have stirred

Since our meeting here tonight;

A treacherous fate is placed upon you

I hope to the gods I am not right.

For Neptune swore his son would return

In the one whose eyes are darkest blue –

And if truth is in all that you told me

Then Neptune’s son is you.”

I see your abyssal eyes now widen

With shock begat from guilt –

You can’t imagine that your father

Was the one whose blood you spilt.

As your past comes running back

I wondered where I was in all of this,

But then I see the fate you have

And decided ignorance is bliss.