The Path of Vengeance

My strength subdued a lion’s threat,
My wit, as sure would win the bet
And prove not only by my brawn,
But by the brains I draw upon,
I can outmuscle and outwit
All other men until they quit.

But oh, the riddled bet I lost,
And how it grieved me all the cost-
The price to be less shrewd than they
Who used my wife as easy prey,
The cost to trust the woman who
I gave the riddle’s answer to.

I thought it only fitting then
To pay the debt with 30 men,
And slew the number I saw fit
To douse with blood their clever wit,
I paid the debt I promised too
With property from those I slew.

When satisfied, I then returned
To her for whom my heart had burned
Before revenge had sparked a fire
To flame a hateful, hot desire,
But she was now another’s wife,
Return? No so, not in this life.

For that offense, I burned their grain
I’d make our loss in life the same,
My heart will hunger for her touch,
Their stomachs ache for food and such,
Then they killed her, it didn’t stop,
There is no end to death we swap.

No end! A thousand I destroyed,
Killed with a jawbone I employed,
Evaded them for twenty years
Until Delilah loosed her tears
Since I had lied to her at length
When asked to give my source of strength.

There is no peace along the path
That’s cut and cleared by pride and wrath,
Subdued was I, imprisoned by
The Philistines who plucked each eye,
For sport, they’d show me out to flaunt
Upon display for all to taunt.

My final act upon their stage
Was done without display of rage,
But would fulfill their appetite
To gorge on power, slake on might,
And with my strength, one final breath,
I brought our vengeance to its death.

Rich Tassinari 7/2/2014