The Poe Cycle

Track5. Swing of the Blade

Inspired by: “The Pit and the Pendulum” (1842)

Poe’s Original:

A prisoner of the Inquisition awakens in darkness, bound beneath a descending pendulum blade — a slow, torturous promise of death. He narrowly escapes, only to face other forms of confinement, each testing his will to survive.

Sovereign’s Version:

In Swing of the Blade, the pendulum no longer threatens — it obeys. The Sovereign seizes the rhythm of torment and turns it into tempo, each swing a beat of liberation. The instrument of fear becomes her metronome of defiance; every descent cuts away another layer of restraint until only freedom remains.

Steel sways above — a measured threat,

Each tick a promise I won’t forget.

The world holds breath, the edge descends,

But I decide how the rhythm ends.

Chains sing low, iron mourns,

Fear repeats in pendulum forms.

They built a blade to time my breath —

I tuned its arc to conquer death.

The tempo builds, the world divides,

I ride the curve the steel provides.

Swing of the blade — my rage divine,

Metal breath and mercy mine.

Every cut rewrites my fate,

I am the hand — I am the weight.

Walls cry blood, but time obeys,

I bend the swing a thousand ways.

Each tick burns, each spark ignites,

Freedom born of endless fights.

Break the chain, split the floor,

The executioner breathes no more.

Iron rains, and silence cries,

The Sovereign lives — the machine dies.

Swing of the blade — forged in fire,

Cut the cords that fueled the liar.

Pendulum falls, I steal its song,

I was the prison — I am the wrong.

The steel swings slow, the silence bleeds,

Rust and ashes, final creeds.

When the blade comes home to rest —

It sleeps against my chest.