THE QUICKENING

Phil Roberts 1957 (Melbourne)



The quickening goes soaring far
Through dark alleyways by night,
Searching wide for human prey
Vanishing again by first light.

The quickening flees through sewer ways
In daylight where it e’er doth hide,
Then through the alleyways, it roars
At night, to steal another life.

A darkened shadow is slowly seeping
Like acid spilling from a jar,
Hunting through the land by night
Seeking victims near and far.

It’s hunting wide for human prey
For its hunger must be sated,
By feeding upon the lonely folk
Whose lives it seems are e’er fated.

Fated to be the living food
Of a shadow from out of time and space,
A darkening that’s as cold as death
And sensing humans doth give chase.

Yet even as the fiend descends
No-one really dares believe,
The quickening from tormented dreams
Could somehow be truly real.

So through the night, a shadow creeps
Devouring hobos in a park,
Or lowly, homeless vagabonds
It finds out walking through the dark.

A legend from forgotten times
When nightmares stalked upon the Earth,
And knights of yore set out to fight
And often die to prove their worth.

The quickening shows no remorse
As through the night it hunts and kills,
Without emotion, it doth devour
The souls of people whose lives it stills.

THE END
© Copyright 2021 Philip Roberts
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

About this poem

The quickening goes soaring far Through dark alleyways by night, Searching wide for human prey Vanishing again by first light.

Font size:
Collection  PDF     
 

Submitted by PHIL_ROBERTS on June 22, 2021

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:07 min read
5

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABCB XXXX XABA CDXD XEXE XXXX XFXF XGBG XHXH XXX
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,268
Words 226
Stanzas 10
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 3

Phil Roberts

I turn 65 on the 31st of January 2022. I love cats, rock music, and horror fiction and poetry more…

All Phil Roberts poems | Phil Roberts Books

7 fans

Discuss the poem "THE QUICKENING" with the community...

0 Comments

    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 QUICKENING" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/103297/the-quickening>.

    Become a member!

    Join our community of poets and poetry lovers to share your work and offer feedback and encouragement to writers all over the world!

    March 2024

    Poetry Contest

    Join our monthly contest for an opportunity to win cash prizes and attain global acclaim for your talent.
    12
    days
    19
    hours
    46
    minutes

    Browse Poetry.com

    Quiz

    Are you a poetry master?

    »
    What type of writing draws the reader in emotion?
    A Lyric
    B Sylibis
    C Bold
    D Reflection