4The Tragedy of Pyramus and Thisbe
Written by xInSaNexBlOoDyxPrInCeSs
In the land of Babylon, where the white dove sings
There lived Pyramus and Thisbe: a fine couple
They were like angels, except they did not have wings
Both were beautiful and handsome, thin and supple,
But they had no golden bands, no gold marriage rings
This is their story, and it may make you shed tears
Pyramus and Thisbe lived in neighboring homes
Identical in shape, divided by a wall
The two young people spent whole days writing love poems
But once their feuding parents heard of their love call,
Banned from seeing the precious other, they took idle roams
Pyramus sees a crack in the wall, and he nears:
He sees his prized Thisbe, her blue eyes full of dread,
Her beautiful long auburn tresses combed and straight
"Thisbe, Thisbe! It is thy Pyramus!" he said.
Thisbe turned round, not giving him a second's wait
"Pyramus! Where art thou?" she said, cocking her head.
Thisbe walks toward the horrid wall, then sharply veers.
She sees her adored sweetheart, and nearly cries out
For he was there: she saw him, and she missed him so!
For he was a god, and in that, she was devout
Thisbe would even worship his tiniest toe
Without a single shred, single piece of real doubt
The hot flames of her deserted spirit now sears
Everyday after that, the two escaped their kin
And through that stonewall; they expressed their endless love
It never crossed their minds that it might be a sin
The only passerby would be a cooing dove
When daylight died down along with the deafening din,
Each kissed their side of the wall, forgetting their fears
Once she expressed her regret, wanting to see him,
And he told her to come to the mulberry tree
And so dead at night, Thisbe went, on a wild whim
Underneath the moon she stood, underneath the tree
Thisbe let out a deep breath, and undid her pin
But soon a troubling, soft sound reaches her white ears—
Bathing in the moonlight was a fierce, fat feline,
A lioness, with crimson blood around her mouth
With a fearful shriek, Thisbe made a brief beeline
The lioness found her veil, which lay to the south
The beast ripped it with her sharpest teeth; there were nine
Thisbe hides behind a rock, not risking a peer
Then Pyramus appears in the darkened woodland
He recognizes the bloodied, fallen blue shawl
And with a shout, sees the paw prints in the packed sand
Mistakenly he thinks that Thisbe has been mauled
He grasps his long metal weapon with his tanned hand,
And that short minute crawled by like a lengthy year
The man stabbed himself, in the stomach where it hurt
And he fell to the ground, as though he was sleepy
Thisbe saw the lion had gone, out of the dirt
And she approached the tree, feeling a bit weepy
She grabbed the man, wanting him to feel live and pert
She stared at his face, and felt, on her cheek, a tear
Gulping, she grabbed his sword, and thrust it through her breast
Tears fell down her cheeks, and blood through her pretty gown
With a sigh, she fell down, upon her lover's chest
The tree absorbed their blood, for it went to the ground
White mulberries turned to crimson, like blood when pressed
And those blood-berries tasted rather strange, so queer
Their parents found the two, and wept to see their fate
They powdered them, and put their white bones in a jar
And no longer did the parents feel for them, hate
When the lovers lived, their fateful union was marred,
In death were they together and that was too late
And only in death can they call each other 'dear'
This is a poem that illustrates the tales of Pyramus and Thisbe—you can find their story easily at a Greek Mythology site. (I recommend ), and their story is basically how I have written it. The rhyme pattern for this poem is: ababac, and it's written in pentameter.
This story is in Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream," and apparently was the inspiration for "Romeo and Juliet."