by Emil Pataja
Sleep that doth harbour a dream of dread,
Whence come the fingers that beckoned and led
My dream-stung soul from my canopied bed--
Whither dost take me, ere I am dead?
Beyond the skull-grinning mid-March moon
Over the phosphorous-lit lagoon
Out past the darkest pits of the night,
Fast thru the stars in this evil flight;
Lead thee me out past the rim of space,
Show me that ravenous, pain-black face,
Marmok, whose myrmidons ever are questing
For souls who wander at nite, unresting.
Then shall I know an ultimate bliss
Tasting the fury of that cosmic kiss,
Whilst my earth-cloak lies limply on the floor
To waken and gibber forevermore.
* * * * *
What is the dim monstrosity that shimmers across the stars, what hand is
that to cradle planets, earth and mars. What misshapen gargantuan of
nebulous formed flesh, hurls out its flood of darkness, the systems to
enmesh. What is it walks across the universes chanting cosmic choruses
with endless verses--what thing unutterable has visited our Earth long
years ago, and now, tonite, returns, in the shadows lurking glow. What
ancient fear is with me, cold and terrible? Is that the shape of man
upon the constellations, blotting out the light--or something gasping in
hideous delight, plucking at the planets in insanity, at play, causing
suns to boil like cauldrons, meteors to sing upon their way with
mournful voices, lost ghosts upon lonely trails--wailing--wailing. Is
tonight our rendezvous with the Cosmos Thing, the Colossus bigger than
Andromeda that sits upon the throne of space--or are these fantasies
upon my aged eyes?