The 99 Poem Challenge (Fox-Trot-9) ✓

82. Tendi -- Cave of Giants

The 99 Poem Challenge
Fox-Trot-9

82. Tendi — Cave of Giants

Into the wood and down through hell
Begins a journey where they dwell
Inside the earth, for legends tell
   Of giants living underground.

For in all legends lies the truth,
At least a piece of it, in sooth,
Amidst the many lies uncouth
   Spoken about and spread around.

So anyway, my friends and I
Went caving in age-old Shanghai
Where even locals testify
   To never go beneath the ground.

But we were stupid tourists then;
Not listening to Mr. Chen,
We ventured to the narrow glen
   Where they were rumored to be found.

We spent all day just getting there
And camped outside giants' lair,
The entrance cave beyond compare—
   So huge it should be more renowned.

So overnight we slept inside
Our knapsacks in the countryside,
Where nighttime silences belied
   The giants sleeping in the background.

At morning we unpacked our camp
Ere going on our daytime scamp
Into the darkness with our lamp
   Lighting our way into the foreground.

Through massive halls of stalactite
And over floors of stalagmite,
We journeyed through the endless night
   Of the giants' hidden playground.

Deeper and deeper through the cave,
We journeyed through the deep concave
Surroundings of our living grave,
   When we all heard a breathing sound.

We saw an opening right where
We heard the breathing in the air,
Peering into the giants' lair,
   Feeling our heartbeats' constant pound.

I turned my flashlight on and aimed
The beam into the darkness; framed
Inside the dark, two eyes inflamed
   With rage peered out and looked around.

We all hightailed our asses then
Out of the cavern darkness when
We heard the breathing air again,
   Followed by shaking in the ground.

Running and stumbling through the dark,
We heard a roar break through the stark
Stillness, from which the legends mark
   The giants' raging underground.

Out of the entrance, we began
Our scramble through the narrow span
Of glen, until we reached our van
   And drove away, now airport-bound.

We'll never go back to that place
Where giants lurk without a trace
Within dark caverns as a race,
   Waiting there still until they're found.

So when you make your cavern trips,
Listen to locals and their tips
And warnings from their speaking lips—
   Sometimes it's best to turn around.

(To be continued...)

A/N: Tendi are quatrains of 8 syllables from the Swahili of Africa... The number of stanza is up to the poet... The word, 'tendi' or 'tenzi' is plural for the singular, 'utendi' or 'untenzi'... Oh, and the word of Swahili (used as an adjective to describe the form) is 'Kiswahili'... So in respect for the proper way of say it, the Tendi is a Kiswahili poetry form...

Meter: Octosyllabic
Rhyme: aaab cccb...