The ballad of Nalum by Johnson Oyeniran
Under a Sakura tree on a warm and pleasant day,
Sat a battle hardened soldier, trying to stay awake.
''Arise, you must stay vigilant'' muttered the combatant,
''Or you will suffer the same fate as private Melicent.
But her eyes grew weary then she fell into a deep sleep,
Before the enemy quietly slipped into their keep.
They were bested by ruthless devils more savage than beast,
All the while the sleeping soldier slumbered against a tree.
Luckily for her, she was mistaken for a dead body,
So they left her be and continued with their killing spree.
Time passed since the enemy took the army by surprise,
They outnumbered them nine to two and left not one alive.
When the enemy were done having the time of their lives,
They merrily marched on with plunder under the blue sky.
In the midst of her fallen comrades, the soldier woke up,
In a state of shock at what she had just seen, she choked up.
''This isn't a sick prank nor am i dreaming'' wailed the soldier,
''My...my brothers and sisters in arms have all been slaughtered.''
''Before long, their mangled corpses will be food for scavengers,
Then nature will bury what is left of these warriors.''
Alone and orderless, the soldier randomly went west,
A tragic choice she would ultimately come to regret.
Now up ahead, roughly half a kilometer away,
Was the entire enemy, camping beside a great lake.
''This can not be happening, whispered the protagonist,
''Somehow, i ended up near the camp of these terrorist!''
But before she could try to sneak away, she got captured,
Embarrassed by her mistake, the soldier felt so awkward.
After hours of abuse, she was brought before their leader,
He demanded to know how she survived their massacre.
But the female soldier refused to open her bruised mouth,
So he told his guard to pluck one of her amber eyes out.
Even though she was in excruciating pain, she didn't scream,
She was a master of keeping her composure to a t
At the leaders command, she was bound with low grade fetters,
But little did he know he had made a deadly error.
On her way to a makeshift and human sized oak cage,
She smoothly slipped out of her chains, once the guard was distrait.
Immediately, she wrapped her chains around the guards neck,
Fueled by rage, she did not stop choking him till he dropped dead.
Nearby was a deep hole she used to conceal the dead guard,
But first, she took his uniform and cut off his male parts.
Later, she blended in with her enemy in disguise,
Her plan was to destroy them all with a fatal device.
Now within an empty tent, she performed a ritual,
Her special blood was needed to make her wish possible.
Soon after,12 ghostly heads hovered out of her blood symbol,
They were ancient wish granters who were all ethereal.
''Whats your request?'' asked the 12 heads whilst they floated in the air,
''Fashion me a bomb'', begged the female soldier in despair.
''As you wish'' answered the 12 supernatural floating heads,
''With this, I will blow them to bits'', declared the warrioress.
Just then, word had quickly spread that the soldier had escaped,
So the enemy searched high and low for her in great haste.
Suddenly, they were bewitched by the soldier's melody,
One by one, they mindlessly marched toward her tent, slowly.
Out stepped the female soldier standing firm and unafraid,
Wrapped around her body, was the bomb the twelve heads had made.
At the cost of her life, she ignited her lethal bomb,
And at last, the whole enemy both great and small, was gone.
Nalum, Nalum the brave and mighty female warrior!
May your story live on within my poem forever!