Poem: "The Sign of the Bell"
This poem was inspired and sponsored by red_trillium.
The Sign of the Bell
Leaning over the latest find,
Xadrath used his antennae to brush the dust
away from the creamy material.
Slowly a long handle emerged,
followed by four narrow tines.
His claws carefully lifted the tiny tool
from its resting place and set it in a padded box.
Just then, his assistants whistled excitement.
Spreading his iridescent wings,
Xadrath flew over the archaeological site
to the trench they were digging.
Shards of bright red and blue material
winked from the reddish dust.
There was, alas, no yellow --
potentially a grave disappointment.
"What do you think, Learned Archaeologist?"
one youngster asked. "Is this a Temple of the Bell?"
Xadrath buzzed annoyance.
"We do not know that yet!" he reminded them
"First we must remove all these pieces and reassemble them.
Then we will know what kind of Sign this is."
Places of worship in this culture were all distinguished by Signs.
Chief among them was the Sign of the Bell.
At such temples, the natives had conducted great feasts
and worshipped at a set of vividly colored altars.
This particular temple was not the most common,
but was believed to be the most influential --
because many other temples and private dwellings
bore on, above, or near the door a golden bell.
Eager for discoveries, the assistants clawed through the dust.
When Orflitz broke one of the blue shards,
Xadrath banished them all to the sifting trays
and kept careful watch on them
from the back facets of his eyes.
The sinking sun combed the barren landscape
with long beams of golden light,
teasing Xadrath's gaze with glimmers of hope
that time after time turned out to be blue or red
once the dust was brushed away.
At last Xadrath gave up
and whistled the day's end.
His assistants packed away their tools
and the sifting trays.
Then V'sriiii pointed and said, "Learned Archaeologist,
you have an artifact stuck to your left antenna."
Xadrath bent his antenna down
and plucked the artifact free.
It was a tiny shard of yellow bell-clapper.
The assistants stifled their twitters of amusement
as their senior hopped gleefully around the site.
"You'd almost take him for a bell-worshipper himself," Orflitz whispered.