A Monster and His Boy

This tale to you, I now impart,
A story sad right from the start;
There may be morals,
Maybe none...
But time my woeful tale begun.

Once upon a time before,
In darkest, dankest days of yore,
There was a boy of deep lament,
Who truly knew what sadness meant.

He lived alone, all but his uncle,
An ugly man with gross carbuncle;
But looks do not belie the man...
Though some act as ugly as they can.

Alas he treated our poor boy,
Most cruelly, with a twisted joy;
He made him cook and clean and wipe,
And fed him nought but gruel and tripe.

All day the boy would fetch and clean,
All for an uncle, cruel and mean,
From dreary morn, to lifeless night,
He'd live a life of endless plight.

But there was another that I miss,
Who's lot was worse than even this,
For locked away deep in the roof,
His uncle hid a wicked truth...

A travelling carnival had once arrived,
And curiosities they contrived;
Attractions strange and rare delights,
To tempt his uncle with their sights.

In an empty corner of that fair,
A forgotten tent he did find there;
Within he saw a thing so strange,
He stole it and hid it in his grange.

Imprisoned in a dusty loft,
No chairs to sit or bedding soft,
He locked away his stolen prize:
A gruesome monster with yellow eyes!

Each night his uncle would torment,
The poor creature from the circus tent,
Laughing cruelly at the wretch,
Deciding what price that it might fetch.

The boy took pity on the beast,
And dearly wished it were released,
But feared his uncle would enrage,
And replace it with him within the cage.

But every day at half past two,
The twisted man would leave him to
His weary chores, as he himself,
Went into town to spend his wealth.

And when he left, the boy would climb,
Up to the attic old with grime,
To sit nearby the beast in chain,
And talk to ease the monster's pain.

At first the monster would not speak,
But sat in silence, still and meek,
But as the days of visits passed,
He began to talk to him at last.

Stories of his wondrous home,
Where others like him live and roam,
A hidden city, within a wood,
Where monster live as monsters should.

Each day they talked and shared their tales,
Both a prisoner of different jails;
Until one day their story changed:
The uncle retuning, un-arranged!

The attic door was thrown aside,
The boy in terror tried to hide,
As his uncle screamed at him with rage,
Why he'd trespassed in the cage.

The boy begged and pleaded to no avail,
The uncle grabbed his nephew frail,
And shook him hard until he choked,
As the boy just sobbed, his small cheeks soaked.

The uncle, tired of the boy's sad cries,
Decided to end the treacherous lies,
And raising a fist to smash and flay...
His arm was stopped, an inch away!

He turned to look.
His eyes now wide:
Upon his arm, a hand untied;
And following its hairy length,
He met a gaze of monster strength.

The monster, fearing for his friend,
Had found resolve to shackles bend;
And working free, his hands unbound;
They had at last his captor found...

Police arrived the following day,
To take the uncle's corpse away.
They questioned the monster,
They questioned the boy;
But truthful answers could not employ.

They left them both within their home,
With proviso that they did not roam;
No charges pressed, for it transpired,
By police the uncle was not admired.

And so both of them at last were free,
And lived in peace, most happily;
And night and day they would aspire,
To sit and tell tales by the fire.

But things are never quite that plain,
And soon fate turned for them again;
For word began to spread nearby,
That there a killer monster did lie.

At first it was but nervous glances,
From passing folk who feared their chances;
But things for them grew grim once more,
When the letters came in through the door.

Scrawled in angry, hated script,
Upon a paper crudely ripped,
Were words to make the young boy cry:

YOU HAVE A MONSTER.
IT MUST DIE.

The letters came but few a first,
But soon the boy did fear the worst;
Each day upon the mat would lie:
YOU HAVE A MONSTER.
IT MUST DIE.

The monster saw the boy's distress,
And to the problem he did address;
So they packed a bag and left their home,
And out into the world they roam.

They walked together many days,
Taking lost and unseen ways,
Until before at last they stood,
The hidden city in a wood.

The monster was welcomed home with joy,
And to his kin he showed the boy;
And though they found him strange to see,
They welcomed him, reluctantly.

The monster showed the boy his home,
The house he had once called his own;
And so their residence they did employ,
To live as monster and his boy.

And now it seems our tale is done,
Far happier than when we first begun;
The monster and his boy at last,
Could let the world drift peacefully past.

Except of course, as we have seen,
Things never seem to stay serene;
And sure enough a morning came,
To change their poor fate once again.

The other monsters had begun to stare,
At a boy they could not bear;
At last they came to realise,
He looked ugly to their yellow eyes.

And so one day, the monster saw,
A letter left just by the door;
He opened it...
And there did lie:

YOU HAVE A MONSTER.
IT MUST DIE.