The Chamber
David Hellige - ETC Contributor
12/8/06 / Poetry

 I stood there trembling in the darkened room.
Within me dwelt a dark impending gloom.
Embracing in my hand a rusty sword,
As in my ears, the heavy silence roared.
My eyes were keen to every movement made,
As shadows on the stone walls ‘round me played.
A potent evil chilled the air around,
And in a putrid odor I was drowned.

Around the sword, my hands were stiffly bound.

Then suddenly before my watchful eyes
Appeared a man of mediocre size.
His flowing robes were bathed in blackened hue;
A hood of night obscured his face from view.
His blade was clearly newer than my own
As luminous and polished it was shown.
In my direction it remained displayed
As in his dark and vile hand it stayed.
I felt a panic drain into my soul.
My heart sank deep into the depths of Sheol¹.
I hoisted up my dull encrusted sword
To meet the gleaming blade of this dark lord.

 My meager spirit pleaded for succor².

Provoked by fear, I dealt the leading blow.
With all the strength my body could bestow
My rusty blade ascended in a rage
Before I crashed it down upon the phage³.
His shady hand brought up his lustrous sword
To ward aside the tarnished blade I bore.
The piercing clang destroyed the silence ‘round
As rays of vice shot from the deaf’ning sound.
Again I tried to slay the mighty foe
And once more, he did thwart my feeble blow.
Repeatedly, I struck with all my might.
Arousing me, a blend of ire and fright.

 Yet untouched was this fiend as black as night.

Fatigue had overwhelmed my weakened core.
My hand allowed my blade to meet the floor.
As to my knees I fell, this wicked form
Let down his hood, and thus I could have sworn
A cold and evil mirror had been placed
Before me, for I saw my very face.
With eyes of fire, and a fiendish grin,
My other self with evil as akin.

 An utter terror seized me from within.

Without a word, he raised his gloved hand
As unknown magic of an evil brand
Created shackles forged of iron ore;
They sprouted upward from the stony floor.
Around my shaking hands the irons closed.
The hostile air around me quickly froze.
Perceiving in a moment I’d be dead,
I summoned all my strength and raised my head
To look into the dark and icy eyes
Of my immoral self, whom I despised.
He firmly gripped his incandescent blade.
His heavy malice grew with each step made
To meet me: weakened, beaten, in great pain.
All prospects of escape in me had waned.
He stopped, with hatred burning in his eyes,
As steadily, his blade began to rise.
All I could do was stare up at the sword
That I’d soon feel impale me through the core.

I set my life to end forevermore.

Just then, a person clad in blinding light,
Irradiating vividly and bright,
Appeared behind the lord of night and woe,
Suspending fully well the fatal blow.
His eyes were lightning, vigorously bright.
His fluid robes were of untainted white.
He reared up his refined and cultured blade;
To my surprise, in flames it was displayed.
My wretched self had whirled around to fight.
In blinding rage, he swung with all his might.

But with one blow, the stranger slew the blight.

The stranger’s form had altered as he paced
Toward me, and I saw his kindly face.
He shifted from a man of whom I feared
Into a gentle man to be revered.
The lightning fierce had left his regal eyes,
Revealing eyes of brown, so calm and wise.
He put away his royal flaming sword,
Proceeding then to speak a single word.
At once, the chains had fallen to the floor;
Behold, I had been freed forevermore.
My weakened body fell into a heap;
My strength and balance difficult to keep.
He reached out with his strong but tender arms
And gently carried me away from harm.
He spoke an utt’rance to the chamber door;
His voice was one that could not be ignored.
To heed his charge, it disengaged its hold;
The portal opened up as it was told.
As he beheld my body, weak and poor,
He carried me outside the prison door.

 We exited the chamber, evermore.