Eerie eyes shine like daggers
In the gloom of the jungle night
Unknown things crawl and slither
but above the moon glows bright
I feel my way along the path
my breath caught in my throat
Needle leaves scratch my skin
rotting stench makes me choke
And then I hear a menacing
earth vibrating growl
Too close, too close, heart pounding
a musk that stinks so foul
I break into a frenzied run
terrified of the beast
Undergrowth behind me rustles
upon me it will feast
I pelt towards a clearing
a still lake up ahead
Suddenly aware of the shadow
beside me as I sped
I scream and fall to the water
No sound comes from my jaw
In the pool a fearsome tiger
Forgotten its inner awe

Intwined in sweat soaked
fev’rish delusion
A rav’nous serpent
coiling illusion
An ouroboros
slurps its slith’ring self
The prism lies fissured
’neath a cracked ice shelf
where flaws like veins branch
blood of dark gods flow
a heaven lost in smoke
nothing good here grows
Atlas underground
sinews straining stiff
auguries of beasts ablaze -
Spare a pity for what if

Looming lifeless shells
Of long dead distant cities
Where the wildflowers bloom
In the shade of rusting relics
We set fire to all the butterflies
And watched them burn
They screamed in the night
For that promised world
- lost

Encrusted in jewels of wonder
Shards of light entomb its slumber
A gilded box fortified
Horrors whisper from inside

Hoisted up, smugly regarded
Coveted instead of guarded
Contained furies writhe and rage
Never unlock this subtle cage

Aren’t you curious just to see?
These rules don’t apply to me
Foolish men with hearts of stone
Hell unleashed is what you own