Monday, May 24, 2010

Swamp Demons


By C. A. BUTZ


The lights that wink across the sodden moor
     Like phosphorescent eyes that beckon men
     To risk fell footsteps in the treacherous fen,
And sink in loathsome muck, without a spoor—
What ghosts of former days, what dread allure,
     Abides within this subterranean den?
     Or, reaching out, snares victims to its ken,
With wraith-like fingers, to a peril sure?
'Tis told that evil things lurk out of sight
     With human bones that fester in the ooze;
     Belike 'tis true, these bones that once were clothed
In fleshly form now harbor deadly spite
     Against the living, and this swamp still brews
Within its bubbling depths the curse men loathed
     Before they turned to leprous Things of Night!

No comments: