The Marathon: Parts I-III

I: The Runners Beyond the metaphysical divide Where clouds of doubt may burgeon and confound A contest was arranged to help decide How ultimate salvation might be found The marathon would draw an eager crowd Whose entertainment stringers guaranteed The brightly coloured pennants fluttered proud Along the lengthy running route agreed Contestants two assembled for a match Of clashing methods to attain the goal With one determined luxuries to catch The other after credits for his soul Pleones had a fine estate amassed To elevate him high above his peer By cravings was he reckoned to outlast And by his ruthlessness, to sharply steer Against Pleones, Veritus was plain And modest as a champion can be Whatever prize he undertook to gain Would not be so immediate to see The customary starting point was placed With bystanders arrayed in ringing rows As on the track, the centrepieces paced Attempting to allay their nervous throes In seven stages would the race proceed Attached by an endurance testing trail The first to each, by virtue of his lead Would of his chosen bounty first avail Pleones took his place beside his foe And turned his head to give a spiteful look But from the gruelling distance left to go The gaze of Veritus could not be shook II: The Marshes The gun provoked a loud and cheerful roar And, neck and neck, the runners passed the gate As open country, both were headed for Where obstacles lay secretly in wait Their onlookers could cast restraining eyes The whole way to the city's outer line But treachery was free to exercise Once deep into the marshes, they would wind The ground below their feet grew soft and wet And wild overgrowth would all enclose When resolute, his accolade, to get A shortcut off the trail, Pleones chose Though cunning marked the corners of his grin His first plateau reduced to steps away The quicksand that he stumbled squarely in Elicited a holler of dismay As soon as Veritus perceived the yelp He scrambled through the weeds towards the sound And offering his sturdy arm as help Returned the fallen one to solid ground A measured space outside the muddy moat Pleones thanked the hero with a shove And paused for but a twinkling to gloat Before he turned to seize the spoils above He found a table set with jugs of wine Each bottled in the foremost vintage year He opened one to sate his palette fine But, by and by, he drank the table clear Believing that his rescuer had died He fell into a comfortable snooze The fitter man had nature's law applied To make sure that the better man would lose III: The Vortex Though Veritus plunged head first in the pit A tree root had his trailing shoelace caught His clasping hand secured a hold on it And up he struggled to his former spot Insisting to abide by rules of play He went back to the point he'd furthest run To cover the entire legal way Until he reached the clearing of Stage One He found Pleones peaceful in a dream The lawn a mess from drunken folly blind And bathed himself in water from the stream Pleones had not ventured more to find Straight down the sloping thoroughfare, he strode Restored for this most challenging of treks Towards the spinning maze of carved out road Known infamously as the Great Vortex The topsy-turvy way that he was led By rubber ground that traveled on its own Proved that the only way to get ahead Was running backwards into the unknown Pleones woke in time to see his loss But quickly moved to reassume his place By sending out a bulging wave to toss The upstart Veritus to idle space Dishonesty was favoured by the route So that Pleones smoothly crossed it all A tangle of soft arms held widely out Directed him to his next port of call Sweet virgins from the whole surrounding land Would make for him an adequate reward He took the first one firmly by the hand As out of sight, his rival was ignored (to be continued)
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© 2016. Verses by David Skerkowski. All rights reserved.