Prince Vlad III Dracula of the House of Basarab

Sworn to the Order of the Dragon
like his father before – to defend the faith
and to hold back the encroaching crescent moon
the dark prince, ruler of Wallachia
and the lands beyond the forest,
is merciless and cruel.

He feasts in a forest of his own making
a thousand upright pales
casting long shadows in the setting sun
and atop those wooden stakes
hanging corpses – food for ravens and crows.

The stakes go in through the navel
or through the buttocks of each victim,
their screams cease when the poles
erupt in blood from their opened throats.

This devil son of the dragon is amused
and more – he hacks off limbs and ears,
he decapitates, he emasculates, and he laughs,
impaling pregnant mothers through their wombs
so they might die with their yet unborn
and skinning men alive to display them outside their flesh.