In Those Days

 

In Those Days

 

In those days,

Days of gloom,

Nights of horror,

Fear walked recognizable:

Visages unmistakable,

Forms familiar,

Tongues too often heard.

In those days,

Heroes rose,

Monsters fed,

Until battle was long waged,

Until foes were beaten,

Buried,

And tales were passed

Down through ages,

Until they were passed no longer,

Made forgot by design.

 

In those days

Creatures were fashioned,

Informed of secret art,

Given living sigil,

And taught patience.

For Man is ever eager,

Rushing forth with each new skill,

Heedless and too often unrepentant,

Marking not his failures,

And enamored of his own cleverness.

Then will the beasts awaken,

Then will they adopt the form of Man,

And pass among him,

And speak sly flattery,

And make false voice,

And false light,

And falsify knowledge,

They would lead Man back into woe,

That these beasts may feed unabated.

 

In those days,

Prophecy was made,

And there were those who heard.

These then made their retreat,

Biding time,

Keeping vigil,

Attending the eons,

Conserving strength.

Long sleep have they had,

While man played under the Sun,

And forgot nightmare.

Now the fiends awake,

Now they come amid us,

And praise us falsely,

Louder than we praise ourselves.

In those days

They made promise:

They would remind us of terror,

Of dread,

Of dire existence,

In these days.

They are among us,

In these days.

 

Cliff Lake 9/27/2025

Copyright © Clifford Lake 2025