The Cyrillic Runestone
A journeyman once spelunked in a cavern beneath a marsh,
Whose oily layers of algae and water made his mission harsh.
For the cavern's entrance stood in the middle of the massive swamp
Full of gators with sawtooth mouths which would gulp you in one chomp.
His goal was to determine whether some stories are really true
Of a stone inside the cave inscribed with cyrillic magic runes.
A Ukranian, the man had known the foreign alphabet
Which he needed to decrypt the words on the stone beneath the wet.
Carried voices claim that in Russian script the stone had read
Three words pronounced in Roman letters: legkiy, vody and breth.
The man knew what these three words had really meant,
In order from left to right, they had read: light, water and breath.
Having trounced across the swamp avoiding being torn to shreds
He proceeded through the hidden hole which to the cave it lead.
Darkness devoured him as he was swallowed by the hollow rock
Whose stalactite teeth dripped and dropped as the seeker walked.
His lantern's flame danced in flckered circles upon the limestone walls
And guided him towards a tunnel which to him, it seemed, it called.
Chancing his intuition, the man meandered down the passage
Slowly and desperately yet with somewhat clairvoyant advantage.
For the tunnel he had chosen lead him to an illuminated room
By sunlight which snuck between the cracks of the cavern's gloom.
In the center of the chamber was a triangular shapen stone
With three words ablaze in sunlight, the cyrillic script was shown.
Water, breath and light read upon the igneous structure
Which formed when volcanic domes beneath the cave had ruptured.
The origin of the inscription had not yet become known
For this man was the first to lay eyes upon the words which had glown.
As he gazed upon the words in wonder and confusion
He felt as if he were waiting for some sort of trick or illusion.
Then, as curiosity crept from his cranium, his head began to hum
And he felt a violent burn upon his arms which were growing numb.
Water began to fall within the room and the cave began to collapse
To the horror struck unlucky man who was stuck inside this trap.
Swampy water surrounded the man who began to heave
And after submerged beneath the liquid, he realized he could breathe!
For the runes upon the stone had granted him three gifts of might
The ability to breathe in water and to see in darkness without light.
Now he lives beneath the cave,
Helping those in need of being saved.
Copyright © Beej Simrov | Year Posted 2017
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