An exercise in inspiration – having a vaguely Lovecraftian mood on me I decided to just start typing and see where the mood take me. The first couple of lines sprang out of nowhere and I just let the whole thing flow without editing or pausing. When in that failing sleep I rose With eyes agleam in heart of night I left behind my calm repose And trod the path toward the light That came unbidden through the veil And whispered words of shade and doom That called to mind a far off tale And drew me onward in the gloom. There scenes of ancient lands I saw And cities cyclopean rose And bands of armoured men at war With shapes more fierce still than those Those shapes were not the men I knew Nor beast, nor fish, nor bird nor aught That I could name or know for true And with those ancient men they fought But sword and axe and spear and flame Could not prevail or win the day But only a forbidden name When spoken drove those fiends away Its echoes rang when it was named And