The creature that crawled on the sky, Part II

The harvester listened as the boy had his say
while his spindly hand hovered inches away
And just when the child began to despair
the skeleton harvester took to the air
The youth thought he'd lived by the strength of his ploy
but there were other reasons for sparing the boy
The skeleton harvester would today be gentle
For the child below him had so much potential
With bone structure fair, skeleton just right
What a waste not to wait until it was ripe
Furthermore, what the child had said was quite true
That beast was a treasure that would vanish soon
So for now the boy lived, though this wasn't the end
In several more years they'd be meeting again
Back in town, events were somewhat suboptimal
As the creature above descended atop them all
It surveyed its prey and showed its long teeth
and delighted at all the morsels beneath
The villagers wondered who'd be its first victim
when an unlikely ally suddenly drop-kicked in
The skeleton harvester had finally arrived
Intent now on making this beast his new prize
The creature was stunned by the blow to the head
but it quickly regrouped and it wanted him dead
So it snarled and it snapped and it swiped and it slashed
and it bit and it swung and it stomped and it gnashed
Every strike from the Creature That Crawled simply whiffed
Its opponent was small and incredibly swift
Yet because all this dodging was hyperintensive
there wasn't a chance for a counteroffensive
The balance of battle was delicate, clearly
The first to slip up would pay for it dearly
And, so it was, as he dodged the beast's claws
The harvester swooped too close to its jaws
The razor-sharp fangs swept in attack
and closed upon him with an audible crack
The blow, while not lethal, could not be called small
With his wing torn to shreds, he started to fall
But he would not be so easily defeated
In that instant he had the chance that he needed
He grabbed on to the spine, and with all of his might
he ripped the foul creature right out of the sky
With tremendous force it came crashing down
(and it luckily only smashed part of the town)
As the dust finally cleared, it was plain to see
which of the two had achieved victory
The one-winged one was on top, and below
lay silent his defeated osseous foe
Though normally his presence was cause for fright
the townsfolk all cheered when he came into sight
The boy, who had run back as fast as he could
whooped happily, too, from the hill that he stood
Perhaps from the shock everyone was still reeling
but the town was beset by the bizzarest of feelings
No, more than bizzarest; it was bizzarester
They all felt safe with the skeleton harvester.


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