Dark Queen’s Gambit

Dark Queen’s Gambit

The sun went dim, the sky turned gray
With echoes of the raven’s calls.
All the king’s horses went astray
Outside the crumbling castle walls.

With echoes of the raven’s calls,
Feathers floating down, inky black.
Outside the crumbling castle walls,
There’s no escape, no turning back.

Feathers floating down, inky black,
But it’s too late to change events.
There’s no escape, no turning back.
It’s time to face the consequence.

But it’s too late to change events,
Caught in the spider’s web she’s spun.
It’s time to face the consequence:
The dark queen’s gambit has begun.

Caught in the spider’s web she’s spun,
Hatred glimmers in chartreuse eyes.
The dark queen’s gambit has begun,
As she laughs from her throne on high.

Hatred glimmers in chartreuse eyes,
Shades of purple flash in my mind.
As she laughs from her throne on high,
Her lethal spells render me blind.

Shades of purple flash in my mind
As I wandered the streets alone.
Her lethal spells render me blind,
Left to die on cold cobblestones.

As I wandered the streets alone,
The coral sun consumed her spire.
Left to die on cold cobblestones,
Her skin ignites in blazing fire.

The coral sun consmed her spire,
The queen collapsed, withered and frail.
Her skin ignites in blazing fire,
But I survived to tell the tale.

The queen collapsed, withered and frail.
All the king’s horses went astray.
But I survived to tell the tale:
The sun went dim, the sky turned gray.

Colleen Keller Breuning © 2025
June 27, 2025

Happy Weekend! I wrote this last night, but decided to let it settle and made some changes this morning. I was sifting through some Depeche Mode lyrics while playing their music and – VOILA! Out popped a Deca Pantoum! Crafting this kind of poetry form is like putting a puzzle together. There are 10 stanzas, 8 syllables per line, and there’s a specific alternating pattern with repetition of two of the lines of each stanza following into the next stanza. The last stanza takes the initial 1^st and 3^rd lines and wraps it all together in a pretty little bow, which is quite a challenge. Yeah, I know….probably doesn’t sound like much fun to most people on a Friday night – unless you love poetry like me!

My evil Dark Queen character kind of reminded me of the Red Queen in Alice in Wonderland, with an mean streak to match. This poem ended up being a mash up of Cruella de Vil meets Depeche Mode in an Alice in Wonderland purple haze, LOL. I haven’t written any fantasy type poetry like this in a long while, but this was quite fulfilling and perhaps something I will try again soon. Stay tuned and have a great weekend!

Xoxo,
Colleen

Ecrits Blogophilia Week 52.16 – All the King’s Horses
Hard Bonus: Incorporate a lyric or song title from Depeche Mode (It’s too late to change events; It’s time to face the consequence; caught in the spider’s web you’ve spun)
Easy Bonus: Include three “secondary” colors or variations of their hues (green, purple, coral)