Where jargling javels stab a toad, And mutter swift, as vypers swear; And spectres that the cauldrons wrought, Glare at the storm-swept sins that tell Of monsters that the night-winds rode When bloody plumes stole to a lair Beyond the confines of a ghaut. And spacious halls where vagrants lie-- Vandals to the Dawn, Night and Dusk! And vulpine labyrinths of hell Where pirates of a star are thron'd As dews cloak bones that pierce the sky, Wowed witches with a gorce's lust When vales list to a clanging bell That some encharnel'd hybrid domed, Sweats cesspools with the pall of fear, Shrill sounds permeate the barren air, Each shatter'd light before a well, Ends its flame in short, spastic gasps. And stars that burn but once a year, (Veinéd Aureoles to altars where, When sins are told unto each knell As chanting runes are hushed with clasps Of winds provoked by black-set night, Peer at the caravans in prayer; A dirge is sung by magicians; Each Idol squints eyes at the show, Whilst goblins curse the eerie sight. And Betelguese, an evil lair With infernal, warring legions, Careens as stars shed tears of woe. Arcadia, its pleasing name, An Eden where the damn'd drink wine, Where rich fêtes greet each varlet's eye, Each gyving hound whom Fates have doomed: Each scyphus veils a burning flame; A blood-stone from each dome doth shine On poisons that in goblets lie, Bred by sorcerers, cursed and tombed. Then Terrors, Horrors, reign supreme! Each vial squat before the spread, Leer at toads in goblets crossed, Froth skinks within each feaster's glass, Wine changed to blood, then acrid green. A drunken villain who was bled As drink his convulsed entrails tossed, Writhes with the cramps upon the grass And glares at the face of his god, Whose wrinkled skin, in ghastly wrath, Provoked at this son in revolt, Rants his spleen to the slabs of Doom, From whence gyte monsters with a rod, That oft gave imps a bloody bath, Hythe, and before their master halt; And, then came unhung, battling gloom! The dome cracked like a clashing star, All lights were muffled in a shroud, Wild winds that cought us in their fold, Dashed wrecks unto a reeking zone. In Thralldom's grasp we waged giant war, The storms rasped at each cursing crowd, From regions far there sprung a cold That froze each hoodlum stuck in loam. There, garbed in the wastes of a moat, Gangrel witches scan the slime to curse Beneath a dome and shatter'd light, A sign that all are lost and doomed. Toward jagged heights black oaths float, To skies of jasper light, adverse To Doom's rich fold, prayers reach thro' night That some malignant monster tombed In phantom-blankets stark and bold. All mountain-chasms growl and roar; Each ocean froths black waves of lust; King Thunder rasps the trembling night; Giant lightnings split their fevered hold;