NaPoWriMo 2018 - Day 15

Late poem today. Was running around with my sisters; ultimately our plans didn't work out which was a huge let-down. Oh well, April marches on.

April 15th

Today's prompt is to write a poem which makes a villain more human, but still a villain. I admit, I had a lot of trouble deciding on a villain and then once I did, I had trouble figuring out how to make him seem human, but I actually like the end result. Plus there's a twist-ending!

The Riddler

Riddle me this
Riddle me that
What makes the sound pitter patter
And rhymes with bat?
Riddle me here
Riddle me there
What ticks and tocks
And is under your chair?
Riddle me who
Riddle me how
If you know what's best
You'll answer me now.

Talking in riddles can be so tiring
But how else can I seem frightening?

I know it seems tough
I know it seems wrong
But I once wasn't so gruff.

The truth resides in this rhyme.
I do more than evil
I cause more than crime

My life was once simple
But now it's sublime.

When I was a boy
My family didn't have much at all
My greatest desire was one simple toy
A ball

My father worked hard
He worked all day long
And one day a ball appeared in the yard.

I took it to the store
I took it to the school
It was my prized possession; we were so poor.

Then one afternoon
An older boy cornered me
Taking my toy, he was a goon.

He teased and he taunted
"Answer my riddle and your ball, I'll return."
His superior intellect, he flaunted.

"What is impossible by night, but doable by day?"
An answer, I could not produce
So with my toy; he ran away.

I vowed then
I vowed there
Never would anyone ever
Best me again.

Now when I'm not out riddling,
When in prison, I'm not sitting,
In the library, you will find me - I'll be reading
I read to the small
I read to the sad
I read to the weak
I read to the poor.

I read to them all
But I do some more

I teach them that life isn't nice
It's not fair;
I show them they don't need to share.

Reading aside; make no mistake
Cross me and see
If you can best me intellectually.

I'll give you a puzzle
So difficult
You will go insane
They'll haul you right off
They'll take you away

They'll check you into
Arkhum Asylum
You will be quite inane
There we will reunite
And I will puzzle and prod
Til out your ears drips your brain
It will be quite the sight!

Now off I must go to find that original bully
The Dark Knight!

Reading your comments makes writing twice as nice!

-Sharon