“Ekimmu” (Duplicate?)

Predating back to nearly 4000 B.C., the “Ekimmu” is one of the first and oldest myths known to man. The Sumerians described the “Ekimmu” as demonic, phantom-like entities that roamed the earth, unable to find peace, searching for victims. They were also referenced as evil wind gusts. According to Sumerian mythology, wind is often shown as an expression of psychic or apparitional power.
“Ekimmu” were also described as angry and bitter spirits of once living human beings who were denied entrance to the underworld. This belief was shared by the Assyrians, the Babylonians, and later with the Inuit and Eskimo tribes.

It was believed that the “Ekimmu” would attack a victim, drink his blood, and eat his flesh. In some cultures, they were believed to just feed from emotional energy. They became known as psychic vampires that fed on human energy and their spiritual life force.

These ideas of the “Ekimmu” are the inspiration for the following poem.

“Ekimmu”

A fiendish wind blows hot tonight,
From far across the sand.
It seems to whisper foreign tongues
Which I can’t understand.

I step onto my balcony
And try to hear its speech.
The wind swirls sand in random shapes
Beyond my vision’s reach.

A shadowed face within the wind
Appears before my door.
Then suddenly, the wind dies down.
The face is there no more.

Much later, as I try to sleep,
I feel a heated breeze.
I turn and glimpse an outstretched hand
As it attempts to seize.

The air now holds demonic form.
The demon reaches out.
This is no dream; this fright is real!
“Be gone from me!” I shout.

The name “Ekimmu” comes to me
From tales of long ago.
Corrupted souls, the “devil winds”
The fear they can bestow.

This devil wind has chosen me
As victim for its need.
But I am strong! I must not yield!
This demon won’t succeed!

The wind and sand are seething ‘round.
My skin feels grated raw.
A huge face forms within the gale,
Its mouth a gaping maw.

This demon seeks to take my life
To make me of his kind.
My pain and fear remind him of
The life he left behind.

I kick and cry; I beg and plead.
As blood drips from my face.
My agony resultant from
The demon’s coarse embrace.

The night continues endlessly
With torment and despair.
“Great gods of heaven, spare my life.
Please, Anu, hear my prayer!”

The flash of sunlight on the dunes
Sends threads of hope to me.
The fiend snarls when he sees the dawn
And turns as if to flee.

“I shall return for you,” he says
As he swirls toward my door.
I wait in fear for night to fall
When he will come once more.


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