Fisher Prince
Part One – The Heavenly Birth
From the mists of the ancient past
A god was forged from a mighty blast
A tyrant ruled on earth with steel and fire
The subjects of his kingdom were in mire
They cried to the gods for salvation
Imploring them for imminent liberation
The gods held council and set a plan
To create together an unrivaled man
Endowed with the mark of the gods
They begot a champion by all odds
Destined to fight injustice and pain
On earth and end the tyrant’s reign
A warrior with skills unmatched
On a perilous journey to be dispatched
To set free the wretched souls on earth
He was destined from his heavenly birth
Part two – Aria
A creation so perfect was this wondrous child
That the envious gods were threatened and riled
The god of death decreed for him an early death
By the murderous horns of the treacherous ‘Seth’
The bereaved mother in swift determination
Cast the child away for his own salvation
Stranded sailors carried him unto their ship
When he cried the sails luffed like a whip
Sailing windward to an ancient city
They sold the child with maidens pretty
The childless king Thorn bought the ancient ark
And the beautiful child he named him Mark
Growing up a skilled warrior he became
Unsurpassed archer with glory and fame
To fulfill the oracles’ prophecy, he set sail
Battling the storms, winds, and gales
His ship was sunk by the mighty waves
Saving his mates from watery graves
By the raging waters he was overcome
Until awakened by the beating drum
Unconscious he lay on a distant shore
On an island he had never seen before
He heard the playing of a harp divine
At the gates of a goddess majestic shrine
A maiden beyond the beauty of mankind
To the sturdy gate she was confined
A snake was slithering toward the gate
Approached the nymph and lay in wait
When Mark shot an arrow into its eye
A black storm of dust rose to the sky
‘Aria’ kissed his hand and held his arm
“Why do you cry? You’re safe from harm.”
“This serpent,” she said, “is the god of death
A descendent from the horrible ‘Seth’
Now he will take revenge on us both
To avenge himself he swore an oath
Only your blood will quench his wrath
Hasten away, you must shun his path
Take this jeweled raft and sail away
The god of the waters you must allay
By giving him a thousand jewels divine
Into the waters you pour this wine
Only those jewels will break the spell
Now adieu, Prince, I bid you farewell.”
Arriving ashore he saw a distant fire
A woman and children in worn attire
Their food was a broth and stale bread
“You’re welcome to our food”, she said
“You must be hungry, come and eat.”
He laid the thousand jewels at her feet
“The jewels are a gift for your sons and daughters,”
Hence, he procured the wrath of the god of the waters
Part Three – The Ransom
In the village, a dragon was spitting fire
Turning the shacks into a funeral pyre
Roaming the village to wound and gore
Voicing its fury in an appalling roar
Villagers cried to the king for protection
Women and children fleeing in every direction
Mark shot the dragon with arrows galore
Then he was transformed into the god of war
The ungrateful king feared the god’s ire
Decided to sacrifice him at the temple’s fire
Mark was chained and flogged with a rod
His blood trickling to appease the god
In a distant dream he saw Aria’s beautiful face
Promising him deliverance from this hellish place
A woman approached the king with tearful eyes
And laid at his feet a magnificent jeweled prize
To ransom her savior from such a fate
His benevolence was not repaid by hate
He sailed alone battling the wave
Of an angry god, dauntless and brave
Raging storms in the day and night
A journey of pain and woeful plight
His boat capsized, injured, and pained
For three days in the waters he remained
So cold was the waters with a shiver
He lost his bow and arrows’ quiver
A fisherman’s boat he saw afar
And Aria’s face, like a morning star
An old fisherman saved his life
And nursed him to health with his wife
“What brought you to the blasted island, son?”
“The will of the gods,” he said, “is finally done.”
For Arco the tyrant was this island’s king
Woe and pain to the people he did bring
The fisherman took him in and prayed
That the cruelty of the king he would evade
For the king would not welcome a stranger
Who would be considered a menace and danger
The oracles had decreed in the scrolls of pain
An archer would end this tyrant’s reign
Part Four – The Rebellion
Fishing with the old man, he went everyday
When he fished, the fish came in a big display
Abundance of fortune enjoyed the old man
When he fished with Mark, his luck began
He treated him as ‘son’ dear to his heart
And to the market he wheeled his cart
Everyday in the market, together they sold
Their catch and were rewarded by heaps of gold
Until one day, to the market the soldiers came
They upturned the laden carts and took the game
Beating the men and hassling the maids
Beating with sticks and brandishing the blades
They approached the old fisherman and said,
“Give us your gold and fish or you will be dead.”
Mark stood holding his bow and arrow
And hid his ‘father’ behind the barrow
“Go back to your king, hasten with no delay
The time of tyranny will end this very day.
You will no longer steal from the people or hassle
Run back to your king’s slavery castle
For I, Mark son of Thorn, will end his reign
For all the misfortune and terrible pain
He inflicted on the people he will pay
The reign of fire shall end this day.”
The soldiers laughed brandishing their swords
Not heeding his warning, ignoring his words
“Insolence!” cried the captain of the guard
You will burn for your words until charred
The old man kneeled, cried, and pleaded
“Noble knights, take his words unheeded
For he lost his mind to illness and pain
I will never bring him to the market again
My ‘son’ is crazed; I implore you, take no heed
Of his insane delirium or such a trivial deed
The captain laughed at the “Fisher Prince”
Slashing him with a whip; he did not wince
Mark held the whip and the soldier’s arm
Flung him into the mud, he did not harm
“You stand warned do not endeavor
To flog or fight me, I warn you never.”
The soldiers raged and launched an attack
Coming from every direction, front and back
Mark grabbed a sword and his sword clashed
With every stroke, he broke or smashed
With every stroke, a spark of fire
The soldiers retreated in fear and ire
The villagers cheered, “A champion is born.”
A savior and defender is ‘Mark son of Thorn’
Part Five – The Final Battle
The story of the fisherman to the king was told
The oracles proclaimed he is the savior foretold
In ancient prophecies of destruction and doom
The end of the kingdom at his hands will loom
The ancient scrolls of pain have spoken aloud
In them gods and men had solemnly vowed
To punish the tyrant kings with steel and fire
An Archer would turn the ‘kingdom’ into a pyre
“I fear no such prophecy,” proclaimed the king
“The gods are on my side and my council’s wing
The one-eyed god of death sits on my right
And the god of war commands my fight
In league with the god I have always been
I serve them and sacrifice from my own kin
Bring the fisherman to me in an iron chain
In the darkest dungeon yoked he will remain
Until I pronounce to you my final decision
He will taste torture he would not envision
Before the king, he was chained and shackled
The iron chains chafed his neck and crackled
Blood was trickling from his flogged injured back
The soldiers killed the fisherman and burnt his shack
The one-eyed ‘Councilor’ was hissing, “Kill
Sacrifice him, the gods are angry still.
Throw him in the ring to face the wild Boar
That he may tear him with his tusks and gore.”
Thy will shall be done, mighty god of death
In the ring he will face the boar and Seth
Into the ring with the boar he was cast
That this fateful day shall be his last
A maiden from the stands threw him a bow
He aimed at the king and ready to blow
Aria screamed, “Kill not my father, I implore.”
By then the god of death had released the boar
Mark shot his arrow and killed the ugly beast
Five more were suddenly from the den released
The Seth charged and gored the prince’s chest
Aria threw him a sword and arrows to fight his best
The prince threw the sword; the beast was beheaded
He was the god of death, long feared and dreaded
In a dreadful battle, the god of war he had slain
Blood gushing from his chest and bleeding vein
Aria rushed to the ring in tears and pain
Held the dying prince and cried again
“The prophecy was not true, he said, I was cheated
By the deceitful treacherous gods, I was defeated.”
Cosmos thundered in rage, “Two gods slain
Bring the slayer to me in a shackle and chain.”
The god of gods was invoking storm and thunder
Summoning the gods from the heaven and under
When he saw the prince he screamed, “Alive!
Wasn’t he destroyed? How could he survive?”
The goddess of creation Tara said, “I am his mother.’
Mark had killed the treacherous gods one after another
Only Cosmos and Tara were spared the death
He inflicted on the gods with his dying breath
They were the parents who begot him to fight
Injustice on earth endowed with unrivaled might
“Save him mighty Cosmos, he is my beloved son.”
“I can not change destiny, Tara, the prophecy is done.”
Tara screamed, “Then how do you call yourself a god?”
Maxwell O’Reilly
