This is a bit darker than my usual fair, but it came as a piece and I don’t tend to argue when they hit me like this.  Maybe someday I’ll find out the rest of the story.

Sing a song of six pence
Pocket full of ash.
Four and twenty goblins
Groan beneath the lash.

Now they haul behind them
A dark and wicked thing,
Bound with dire enchantment
Presented to the King.

Chains of shadow binding
A cursed and wicked soul,
Now made to answer
Another wicked goal.

The King now is laughing
At his captive’s plight
But a goblin maid takes pity
in the endless night.

A key is found and stolen.
A binding broken fast.
And the two escape together
Though the respite cannot last.

The guards run hot behind them.
Their flight now is known.
But the curse turns on its maker
And all that’s left are bones.

A Song of Ash and Bones copyright (c) Heather Strickler 2024 All rights reserved.