Strange Nights [a poetic Mytho]


1.

High sky, and visible sinister shadows,

The covered moon, now still,

Then the eldritch dark, its eerie face falling,

And now, nearby, a viper-imp is calling— I no longer weep. But watch, watch the

Strange nights go by (why?)

(I shall get no pleasure in telling this story, where—where strange nights bring forth truth and light, to the dead.)

2.

Macabre—and silent was the night, as there came a knocking, knocking, a knocking on my basement door; as I stepped closer and closer, it threw, threw its self open to me….

How can I explain what I saw, for I alone have seen them, no one else? I stand in jest. There was, an indescribable two headed viper, so I seen. Tall it stood, as tall as I, slimy and green.

In a dim, horrific mist! I sought to see what was below, below—within, within my basement crypt. As I descended the stairs I saw faces—bent faces; alas, it was chilling to the eyes. There was some kind of beauty, mythological beauty in all this. Hence, I descended side by side with someone, something: yes, something, descended down the stairway with me. And there, there at the bottom, they stood and stared with glee.

My mind was cloudy with doubt as I listened to the rain outside falling, falling now, falling like a string of voices chanting, chanting my name.

There was a floating mist asunder, as if I was on a ship at sea; eerie winds moaning, and strange hissing groaning; lo, I whispered, ‘where am I?’ Shadows shape-shifting, swiftly, as I stood in amazement drifting, drifting, just drifting, thinking about these past strange nights.

I noticed a bed of mahogany, saw a viper resting, resting on fog, upon its fog like covers on the bed; resting, just resting, as if, as if it was waiting for me with its crimson eyes and pale fangs, and ebony dark dark, irises. The viper ebbed close to the edge—unaccompanied.

Adrift with a ting of modesty, the viper gazed with a grin at me, stirred my mind, my soul; wanting to tell me something I needed to know. Said he, the snake:

“I: I am the guardian of the ghouls, ghosts, the imps—the souls

with no peace, here within this house (my house), their legacy

to life. I suck out their core of crudity and fear. I wait for their grief,

arrogance to disappear. I wait, and wait with these strange nights.”

3.

I had learned in time, as time passed, months to seasons, that one head of the snake spoke during the night hours, the other during the day; yet day and night was dim all the same.

Ah! yes, I slept during the day, and caressed the bitter sweet delights of the dark nights—[why, I don’t know] when there, there seemed to be these ghostly figures caught in-between heaven and hell, wanting to talk, just talk to me.

I know, I know, so I said to myself: have pity on these ghostly skeletons of lost doom, caught between humanity and the cellar room. And so autumn and winter shed their skin again, and spring was upon me. And once more I opened up the cellar door, for I did not hear the knocking, the hideous knocking, I once heard before; and so I wondered why. And I listened to the whisper of the twin snake [the snake with two heads]:

“Come, come join us in the forest deep, where forbidden

raptures never sleep?”

Like a fly to a spider I drew back, ready to attack, confused—I heard myself hissing, so I discerned. I said, with panic, “They will never stay another night in my house.” I said this to the snake, cold as he reeked with wickedness. Then I said again, “Is this not plain?”

Said he:

“If only this was not true, but you keep returning to the cellar.”

I said:

“Wait a minute—“[a pause to think] “…I’ll show you.”

And I, I, I waited, waited, waited—I waited a very long time. Then one day I turned the knob of the door again, as the rusty thing almost fell off. There was a cold, cold draft in the cellar, like a tomb, then I heard a low laughter.

4.

I heard the vipers voices say:

“Let us go up to the main floor of the house and see.”

I panicked thinking: are they coming for me? Then like magic, they all appeared….

“There is nothing more to fear, [said the twin-headed snake];

let us go outside and think?”

For it was dark, and it was again, like always a strange night; the evening star looked down upon me; the moon had a gray canopy; as I looked out my window. Then he walked right through the door, like a ghost I suppose does, saying:

“There is no more to fear.”

And I followed him this time. Next, as I went to open the door, the ghoul behind me pushed, pushed me hard, and to my amazement, I went through it, through the door, right through the solid door, just like him, without it being opened; once on the other side I cringed—I knew now, I was like them.

Written January 9, 2005