The Relic
The Relic
The Relic
The relic lay before them
Standing cold and stoic
At the bottom of a temple
As old as the Mesozoic
The 2 archaeologists
Stared in mesmeric wonder
This shrine was ancient
Older than any other
The carvings in the chamber
Told a story of the ages
Before Mans first step
Before the shamans and the sages
Humanoid creatures
Cities with rich tradition
Served a sleeping master
Steeped in superstition
Every few millennium
An unearthly sound was heard
The pictographs depicted
but the images were blurred
They squinted at the wall
Trying to decipher
The primordial message
carved by this survivor
Disaster on a scale
Humanity has not yet seen
Calamitous destruction
Birthed the Paleocene
With goosebumps on their skin
The raiders touched the relic
And heard a ringing in their ears
That some would call angelic
The ringing pitched and yawned
Swallowing them whole
Their screams withheld against their will
As the ringing took its toll
Like a child flipping pages
Their minds shuffled and dissected
An unseen force browsed their thoughts
A noxious presence injected
It weighed the world and all who lived
If its time was nigh or not
Then as quickly as it came
The ringing - it just stopped.
The well-read men writhed
Maddened by what they saw
Faces with their likeness
Were now carved upon the wall
They fled that ancient temple
The relic standing cold
Waiting for the next age
When it may break the world.
About this poem
This poem was written as inspiration to complete a short story I had been writing on the same topic. I’ve been drawn to the cryptic and existential horror genre lately - feeing very comfortable there. I’m currently working on several companion poems about other disturbing encounters. :)
Written on February 13, 2022
Submitted by Boyd.krr on February 27, 2022
Modified on March 12, 2023
- 1:19 min read
- 47 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | XABA XCDC CEXX XFCF XGHG ICXC XJFJ XAXA XKXK EHXH XXXX DXXI BXXX |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 1,438 |
Words | 265 |
Stanzas | 13 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Translation
Find a translation for this poem in other languages:
Select another language:
- - Select -
- 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
- 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
- Español (Spanish)
- Esperanto (Esperanto)
- 日本語 (Japanese)
- Português (Portuguese)
- Deutsch (German)
- العربية (Arabic)
- Français (French)
- Русский (Russian)
- ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
- 한국어 (Korean)
- עברית (Hebrew)
- Gaeilge (Irish)
- Українська (Ukrainian)
- اردو (Urdu)
- Magyar (Hungarian)
- मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
- Indonesia (Indonesian)
- Italiano (Italian)
- தமிழ் (Tamil)
- Türkçe (Turkish)
- తెలుగు (Telugu)
- ภาษาไทย (Thai)
- Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
- Čeština (Czech)
- Polski (Polish)
- Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
- Românește (Romanian)
- Nederlands (Dutch)
- Ελληνικά (Greek)
- Latinum (Latin)
- Svenska (Swedish)
- Dansk (Danish)
- Suomi (Finnish)
- فارسی (Persian)
- ייִדיש (Yiddish)
- հայերեն (Armenian)
- Norsk (Norwegian)
- English (English)
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"The Relic" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/122079/the-relic>.
Discuss the poem The Relic with the community...
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In