A Thousand and One Arabian Nights

The day was cold and filled with dread,
All felt the trouble brew.
The King came home and then the storm,
He found his wife untrue.

The pressure tempered with the storm,
The queen was then deceased.
The King called for another bride,
He had become a beast.

Their lives the next day he would claim,
Death ordered with a nod.
'Til all the maids but one were gone,
One named Scherazade.

Her father did not wish she go,
He was the Grand Vizier.
If the next day she was to die,
The killing he would steer.

"Father, trust me. I will not die,
I have a plan in mind.
Just send my sister when night comes,
'Else I'll be in a bind."

The wedding day was clear and true,
All but the bride were teared.
The bridegroom laughed and rubbed his hands,'
Tomorrow he'd be feared.

"May my sister please spend the night?
For I do love her dear."
The King consented to his bride,
What had he to fear?

That night when all were fast asleep,
the girl sat up and asked,
"Scherazade, tell me a tale,
Tonight might be your last."

Scherazade turned to the King,
"May I answer her plea?
Tomorrow may bring things unknown,
I may be dead, you see."

"Of course you may, for this one night,
But when your tale is through,
You may find that your time is now,
there's nothing you can do."

The tale she told went through the night,
'Til dawn brightened the sky.
The story wasn't finished yet,
Would she still have to die?

"I will give you one slight reprieve,
So stay for now in bed.
Careful how you finish the tale,
Or you may lose your head."

This all went on for many days,
Scherazade was smart.
'Til one day the King said to her,
"I've given you my heart."

"We'll live in love forever now,
My wife in truth you'll be.
I love you and the joy you bring,
You're all the world to me."