For this one, you must convince Beowulf to retreat.
PULP COUPLET III (any gender, early 20s through late life)
Beowulf, it is time
To fight me or decline.
You're clearly in great pain
Yet underwater you remain.
If you swim into this place
My death I may yet face.
I may still do such harm
Your appearance may alarm
Upon your surface to the land.
But with my head in hand
Yours will be all the glory.
They'll tell your hero story
Until the end of time.
Still, keep this in your mind:
Your heroics may be ample
But think of your example.
"To be a man," think boys
"I'll suffer and destroy.
How well I know my foe
Is irrelevant. I go
To demonstrate my might
Like Beowulf's greatest fight.
If to myself I'm cruel
I've just obeyed the rule
That sacrifice must come
Before a battle's won.
If to the innocent
My destruction is misspent,
Such is the price of war.
I'm a man no less, no more."
So Beowulf, am I worth
The legacy you'll birth?
Copyright 2016 by Matt Haynes. If you would like to use this piece, please credit: "Courtesy of Matt Haynes and The Pulp Stage"