The Tale of the Vitae Plant

                                    

                                              


                          
The King layeth upon his death bed
                          
Skin pale as a ghost and pocked with marks of yellow and red

                          
Though the last rites had been read, hope there still was
                          
For in a far off land grew a plant
                          
A plant so powerful it was told it could grant life to all
                          
A crew were to be assembled, not of the nicest
                          
But of the best, for a sinner may be more courageous
                          
Than the most holiest of men
                          
More builders than ever before were assigned
                          
To build the most magnificent ship
                          
A temple of oak stained to look like mahogany
                          
Upon its prow sat the most beautiful mermaid
                          
A sign of hope that was to bring luck on the seas
                          
They would search the corners of the earth
                          
To find the illustrious root
                          
A tincture would be made and fed to the King
                          
So his illness would, at last, be past
                          
On the sunniest day of all they year
                          
In the season of high summer
                          
The rag tag crew, drilled till they were one
                          
Set off on the fateful mission
                          
The blue stretched to horizons unknown
                          
A journey laid before, distance fixed
                          
But timeframe chosen only by the waves
                          
The creak and groan of wood knotted and gnarled
                          
Weathered and beaten but standing true
                          
Night become day and day become night
                          
As not a soul didst enter their aura
                          
But still they proceeded under rain and sun
                          
One day the storm picked up worse than before
                          
The sea a swell of dragons flapping violent wings
                          
It threw the ship left then right, rocking more than a child's horse
                          
They went under deck or grabbed on to rigging
                          
Anything that would save their mortal bodies
                          
Like a bird set to flight one crew was tossed asunder
                          
Landing in the water but making no dent on the waves
                          
They shouted, they search but alas they could not see
                          
Thankful they were, when the wind and waves died down
                          
That only one was sunk like many a ship
                          
But there was no time to think of this
                          
Off course they had been driven
                          
The maps and charts checked once more
                          
A new direction set as sun descended and star appeared
                          
A score and three they had been at sea
                          
When yet new weather at once appeared
                          
Through mists dense that none could see
                          
Swirling and howling like horrible ghosts