"You say you wish to slay me, prince,
yet you barter with ease
with- what was it you said?
Dead flesh and mal disease?
What do you see?
Corpse meat?
The food of flies?
Yet you demand what you please!
You haven't heard my price, prince.
Let me give you reprieve:
You may not want to part,
but it's your heart that I need.
I will have my payment full,
if you wish to see my deed."
"My heart indeed!
You ask for only everything!"
My voice rose in pitch
as my words grew in speed.
"Vile wretch!
How am I to stop what summer brings,
without a heart to beat inside my chest
and blood for it to clean?"
Is this a dream?
What does this creature mean?
He needs a pulse?
He needs a life?
He needs a heart for conjuring?
Rumpelstiltskin let me think
while he poured himself a drink.
It was thrown into his mouth,
from which rose a vile stink.
Blackened gums and septic teeth
caged a tongue, red and pink,
and saliva, ever always,
filled the dam and breached the brink.