# Twisted Purity

Author: ShingetsuMoon
Tags: Fantasy, Mytical, Poem, Poetry, Unicorn

#14 of Poems

This is a follow up to the previous poem Purest Heart. While unicorns are often portrayed as graceful, pure, magnificent creatures they are far from perfect. This ended up a bit sadder then I expected it too but still overall I'm pleased with it. This poem too will be included in my poetry book. It may or may not be changed later on.

* * *

Tales they tell of the  
great guardian who has fallen.  
A warrior not of man but  
of beast and forest and earth.

A stallion who was the   
mightiest of unicorns brought  
low by the tears of a humble queen.

Oh listen to the pleading cries  
of a queen who begs while her  
child dies.

Watch as the guardian of the forest  
refuses to listen and averts his eyes.  
For the hearts of men are filled with  
nothing but lies.

His eyes would not look upon her  
and his ears shut themselves to her   
voice.

For the stallion knew her child  
was wicked and would grow   
to be just as dark as his father.

But on and on the queen made  
her plea until the unicorn's heart  
was sore.

"Enough! I hear you! Please  
stop your tears! My heart can  
bear this no more."

Bowing his head to the desperate  
queen the unicorn gave her a chance.

"I will you give my horn, but  
only half its length. Until the boy  
comes of age. If he is pure in heart  
until then I will give him strength  
for the rest of his days."

"But if wickedness grows in his  
heart before then he will get   
nothing from me. Not strength.  
Not wisdom. Not a drop of  
mercy will he see."

So the unicorn vowed and   
the queen accepted his terms.

With that a mighty crack echoed  
throughout the trees as he split  
his great horn in two.

Broken in the middle and   
a paltry stump left to remain.

The queen sobbed a thank you  
through her tears grateful for  
the chance to end her son's pain.

Away the stallion ran. Into the   
forest with a heavy heart. For while  
he knew he had saved a child's life  
there was no telling what danger  
it would yet impart.

Years passed by and the queen  
ruled in place of the dead king  
bringing peace from all of his strife.

Every day she taught her son   
reminding him of the great beast  
who had spared his life.

But the boy's heart grew ever   
blacker with hatred at the foul  
creature who left him twisted.

Twisted in a body frail and weak.  
The mockery of everyone who speaks.  
His mind grew foul and his eyes grew dark.

For he wanted nothing more then to  
run a sword through the unicorn's heart.

What was the point of a body that could  
hardly bear his weight? Why had the   
stallion saved him at all if only to leave  
him to this wretched fate?

The queen's urges for patience fell but  
on deaf ears. Her promise of a body  
strong and able meant less and less  
across the years.

The boy had not learned his lesson.  
For the unicorn sought to teach him  
patience and kindness to those weakest  
in life.

Yet as the boy came of age his  
evil grew past all bounds. With  
the stroke of a sword he seized the  
throne and from his mother's dead   
fingers the crown.

With a roar of anger he sent out  
the command to every soldier and  
swordsman in the land.

A lifetime of gold and treasure beyond  
imagination. To the first person who   
brought him the remaining horn of  
the stallion.

Trees fell beneath their relentless  
advance. Pure springs fouled without  
even a glance.

Great forests burned to send beasts  
fleeing. All of the sake of unicorn.  
A single innocent being.

Green gave way to red as the   
countryside swam with fire.  
All for the sake of a man  
who had not discerned the unicorn's  
desire.

For what the unicorn feared had come  
true and with it a terrible price.  
For not only had the boy lost his way  
but the stallion too had lost his might.

A white coat that sparkled in the sun  
is now the deepest black.

Proud eyes that cared for all the forest  
now blaze red with rage, ready to attack.

The horn that once glistened like the   
finest pearl, now runs through  
with cracks that bleed a reddish glow.

For as the boy grew wicked so too his  
evil corrupted the stallion. For the unicorn  
could feel the burn of his hate and the   
suffering he inflicted on others and he  
agonized at his mistake.

If only he had given up his strength  
in its entirely and not its half. Then   
maybe things would have been different  
and the boy would have ruled in the   
people's behalf.

For by giving up half his horn the  
stallion did not give up his power  
but shared it. So both of them became  
connected in soul and in spirit.

The boy's darkness had infested  
the stallion like a disease until it  
drove him mad. His purity tainted   
by the darkness that lies within man.

His eyes bring the weakest of men  
to their knees.

His piercing scream can make the   
strongest of warriors beg for mercy.

Where flowers once grew beneath every  
step, now his hooves bring nothing more  
than relentless pain and death.

Trees wither at his passing.  
Water poisoned at his touch.  
The fairies silent in fear of being  
noticed by the one who once sang  
to them with such kindness and grace.

On and on the unicorn traveled.   
Relentless in his quest.  
For until the wicked boy was slain  
he could never have any rest.

Source: https://sofurry.com/s/ve3DzxKm
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