Works by Miss Lewis

Rhyme Time Challenge: Retell one of your favorite stories in a rhyme.

The Tell-Tale Heart retold by Miss Lewis

(Based on the short story by Edgar Allan Poe)

When I was a younger lad,
I committed a crime that was quite bad.
I lived in a house that was rather large,
and taking care of the old man was my charge. 
The old man was wise, polite and kind,
but there was something about him that troubled my mind.

I was troubled by his looks; I cannot lie.
For he was cursed with a hideous vulture of an eye.
The eye was coated with a  film all dull and blue;
Constantly vexed, I knew what I must do.
If I was going to end this terrible strife,
I would get rid of the eye; I would take the old man's life.

For a whole week I was super nice to the old man,
giving him no clues to my murderous plan.
And then each night while soundly he slept,
into his room with my lantern I crept.
For seven long nights, my murderous plan was halted,
after all it wasn't the man himself that was faulted.
It was the eye I hated, shut tight in the night.
Killing him without seeing it just wasn't quite right.
On the eighth day, however, the tables did turn.
On this night the eye opened and the rage in me burned.
The man couldn't see me as I lurked in the room,
but he sensed an evil presence and it filled me with doom.

"Who's there?" he shrieked out into the night.
I chuckled to myself and took delight in his fright.
Many minutes I watched as he trembled in fear,
but ere long a soft sound did come to my ear.
Can it be so? This is wickedly sweet!
The old man is was so scared I could hear his heartbeat.

Thump-Thump. Thump-Thump. His heart quickly pounded.
The neighbors would hear, for as loud as it sounded.

The old man's final moments had come at last!
I leapt into the room, for now I had to act fast.
Tossed to the floor, cursed by the weight of his bed,
for several minutes his heart beat, 'till at last he was dead.
I chopped up the body inside the claw-foot tub
carefully rinsing down the drain every last drop of blood.
Under the floor, I cleverly hid every limb,
leaving no clues as to what happened to him.

As I remade his bed and checked the boards in the floor,
there came a loud knocking upon the front door.
It was the police, a neighbor had tattled.
But quite sure of myself, my nerves were not rattled.
I bid them, "Come in and have a look around."
I knew there were no clues of his death to be found.

They searched the whole house from bottom to top,
when in the old man's bedroom we finally did stop.
I brought in chairs. 'Have a seat! Let's chat!"
We talked freely of things while over the body we sat.

But ere long, once again, that beating I did hear.
It came from the under the floorboards and it filled me with fear.

Thump-Thump, THUMP-THUMP! Louder and louder it grew.
But yet they officers chatted. They were mocking me. They knew.

As the beating grew louder, I just couldn't take it.
For surely they heard it to.They mocked me. They faked it.

I would not be the punchline to the officer's cruel jokes!
Fine! I admit it! You win this round, you blokes!

Rip up the boards! I killed him! I cannot lie!
You'll see I'm not crazy. I was cursed by his EYE!