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The moon bled, deep red reflections on the water
Yesterday's eve, where madness was only rumors
Maybe two streets down, or the cobbler's son
Before the priests, before the cross came down

Before the fires, which burned cold
Frost clawed from oceans depths, undying rise
Creatures of horrors, and blight
Ripping forth from within, tearing hosts

Something formed then, in my father's pride
It crept out, changing organs flesh to else
Growing within, stretching changing physiology
Ready to burst, I can feel it soon

Creatures lash about the night, creening
Violence against nature, a gift from elder gods
A virus, illness budding out of Bon Homme
Couldn't what be birthed, stay home?

But I could feel it, strengthening
Memories of someone else, mother's child
Flashes of night, gods falling from the sky
Swallowed by the sea, drunken until mad

My toes touched, webbing cool
I drifted, floating my eyes
Clear, studied sky, breath choking
Taste the water, breathe the sea

Back to the sea, back to the sea
A bakers wife, bread no taste for me
Husband slaughtered, black priests to see
Worship the Sea God, turn or die

To me, I found them torn
Protecting mine, I cleaved them all
My husband's eyes, between taloned nails
Drunkened, blood drugged and mad

Oh! But I wasn't alone, chaos ruled the eve
Worshippers in ****** haze, gore filled the streets
Flashing in and out, my mind sane and not
Acts became memory, desire fuel

All those that fled, unpursued
Driven by fear, only half crazed
While we devoured the town, each other
But dawn found me cowering, changed

Now my mind grows, a shadow of my lord
My body turns, gills for my lips reach
Drinking the salty sea, breathing deep
Cleansed and born, anew
Bustling energy of trade, fueled by wind and sea
By the bay, this town lived and died
Hauling stock, beast and trade

Commerce of lives, both benign and mine
Thousands of souls, the lifeblood of a town
Building, crating and shipping

Southward rumors of ancient gods, living in ocean deep
Too fantastic for the mind, first trickled then rain
They said, Cthulhu had walked again

Scoffing, things of myths and madness
Forgotten legends, and salty sailors' threats
But rituals pestered, beneath night and cloak

Attentions turned, as they always must
From fantastic, back to life and living
Until adrift, floating death made fall

Rumors resurfaced, cinders to flame
Dockyards without workers, migrants leave
A strange disease, visited from slave to master

From managed flame to fire, the grotesque grew
Crying of unexplained pain, watching madness spread
Freezing port, travel and even the wind

The bay lay like glass, frozen in August's heat
Neither wind, nor wave bothered the docks
And folk looked now, to the religious for bread

Of those, Christians alike
Busied with new, task at hand
I thought, we might pull through

But newcomers mingled, stole members away
Slowly churches emptied, in a span of days
As even their pantries, emptied and barren

I speak now, last fateful night
More dark than pitch, as quiet as death
A silent fire blew, giving neither heat nor light

Beams cracked, charred to ash
Before my very eyes, unbelieving and true
Foul smoke, oily and slick crept

Tendrils spilled out from the hall, I shuttered back
Those that it touched, almost gently
Fell, shuttering and breaking with plague

Gathering my wits, wife and children
We fled town, witnessing gathering horrors
Mishappen feature is friends, family terrorized our way

They had been broken, white eyes seeing naught
Flesh drained of color, ashen and sometimes crushed
Clawing at faces, a great violence to all near

A couple puking sea water, conjoined at the hip
Another opened his own gut, searching and chanting
Still more hunted, having features more akin to the depths

In the morning, as the ocean birthed the sun
I could just see, what remains of the town
In its unearthly stillness, movement caught my eye

A procession of black, marching in step
Strangely orderly, a contrast to the night
Following a symbol, a banner held high

It was then that I knew, remembered from the past
Prophecy foretold, elements of evil from lore
Stories from grand mere, meant to frighten or more

Fallen gods, cast from the stars
Slumbering, undead and yet alive
Bedded beneath, immortal in the deep

Such creatures, nightmares of another race
Gathering ours, devouring sleep
Now, awake
One by one, individual then group
Faces look up, shine to the sky
Elation rippled, and the town shuttered

A horrible creature, stood once more
Stepping from the sea, building beneath foot
Timber to toothpick, stone ground to sand

It stretched, edge of horizon to edge
Wing tips ripped the sky, lightning crashed
It's eyes, madness dripped from dark orbs

Claws tips fingers, hung on heavy arms
Muscles grew and gathered, ignoring effort
As it dragged tails, seaweeds barnacled and old

It had come to Bon Homme, as legends foretold
Villagers succupiants now, of purest joy; driven mad
Tearing at their hair and flesh, screams announcing its rebirth

It cast its eyes west, as if it's gaze focused on a desire
And it's head turned, toward sea once more
Almost reluctant to leave its womb, cold embrace

It's mouth bellowed, no earthy sound
Tentacled fingers around its mouth, stretching; writhing
That sound, not heard but shattering minds

Eyes began to bleed, then run down
Ichor down faces, ruined with black
Ears drained, sick yellow

One by one, individual then group
As this God strode, once more
Dropped, lifeless bodies shone
She walks in circles
ever confused in this life
in the grips of fear.



~ by Mercurychyld
(Aka Maria E Labbe)
Copyright 22 Feb 16
Tuesday
My breath caught, frozen in July
Summer's heat, couldn't draw near
Such was the sight, broken before me

Crouching, ******* the earth
The town broken, lay before me
Radiated in charcoal end, smoking embers

Centered around, spoked out
Once standing proud, a church
Only its brass cross now, tombstoned

Precious packaged, I circled
Searching for life, not charred remains
Either eluded me, ash rained

I crept, grey cloaked and hidden
Strange stories, whispered on mens lips
In homes lit brighter, the night seemed darker

Far East, something had risen
Had cast of ill formed shells, shrugged
Minds and bodies, bent strange

My destination, unsurvived
This brimstone eruption, complete
Little but a frame, withered home

Sifting through wreckage, human and debris
The hand was there, stiff and curled
Wearing the ring, but not a ring

Sawn, not touched
The hand, with me
As well, the ring

In its place, less burdened
The package, placed
Payment for, left handed thief

Spending moments, no less
I sought the church, devoid of life
Additional promise, hidden away

It's timber splintered, crushing
Burned from within, cries on the wind
Its doors had been barred, broken in

Protecting souls, blacken, wooden and thin
Strange symbols, golden jeweled, silver skinned
The Hanging God, crucified and crowned

Such as gods may, none were saved
Children, babies and mothers alike
All tortured by flame, fire

Treasure, reburied in hold
Leather bound, and square
And the thief, hand ring

I redonned cloak, boot and stick
Wrapped in grey, clinging to shadow
With twightlite falling, sped foot

Far from this place, burned to soot
Too many human, blooded and torn
But most haste, those dead and unhuman

I watched close the shadowed, deep
Fearing to be followed, more; unsleep
Seeking to deliver unholy, but my soul keep
Her voice was poetic, such a bard may be
From my half drunk haze, I wandered
Looking up, she wasn't much a girl

She was tugging at sleeves, begging a scrap
A tale she spoke, of tears and madness
Bending any ear, that a bit might try

Throughout the night I puzzled, pieces
Of stricken towns, all easterly
Her father sickened, a cousin liken

The story beg curious, draining my enibe
Time wandered, much as patrons do
The little girl was found, by my side

Tossing her gold, she began
But to my sober eyes, she cringed
For her story, more than passing;

(She began)

Of her life, when cornered
I wanted it in whole, not beggary
Heir to dirt, spoken in small words

It was true, witnessed event
Beyond her small mind, driven slightly mad
The story twisted, tangents borne by emotions

It crept through the village, she lived
Affecting old and young, alike
A plague of the mind, before the body

Those slim recovered, as she was one
Say nightmarish creature, devoured the sea
Looming and tentacled, shelled crowned but flesh

Pillaged her mind, linking to others
Voice minds so loud, drowning her screams
Others clawing, burning their ears; carving flesh

Murderous intentions, toward husbands and wives
Children flailing, glimpsing lives to come
Wailing, the chaotic violence of the flesh

Slowly at first, the story was drawn
In her little voice, lost its pan
Confession came, through her tears

Sins not yet committed, a life hers to be
Memories of pain, unbroken fate
Suffrage of life, before ones age

I sipped rough mead, ordered food for her tale
Half listening to story, feeling the looming
A creature seeing us, omniscient from her eyes

She went on for hours, spent
Others draped, across table and chair
Unconscious from sleep, or dark in drink

On and on, the story unfolded
This shadowy entity, closer for sure
It's name unspoken, but knowing me here

The key (she said), it needed a door
It said, spokeless to her mind
And the tale, must be told
In a moment, all had changed
We sat, as many might
For dinner, late

Rolls and peas, plus a bit of meat
Once a week, we fared better than many
It came like a wave, rolling

From the east, if facing east
I know for at my table, I looked north
But felt the change, weary my bones

I saw my wife, her eyes blue
Deeply light blue, almost gray
I saw her ****, eyes changed green

Struggled, she breathed
Then the wave, took one after another
I felt it pass, emotions tumbling at once

She seen something, hidden
Miles away, blocked from sight
From behind stone walls, as we prayed

Then, the ****
She howled, we all whimpered
For the madness, overwhelmed

Contagious, it spread
I heard it first, bringing me back
From neighbors, less distant and west

Snapping me back, to see her
Gnashing, breaking her teeth
Pulling and ripping, hair

She flailed, grasping a fork
Stabbing our children, one to another
Before I could move, inhumanly fast

As they cowered, deep in rising fear
Not of her, but of the emotions rippling
From distant and far, but always east

I struggled, when she came at me
Flinging my arm up, warding her off
My knife came up, involunteerily

Then it dimmed, although
Some great beast, gathered it's rage
In some great birth, then awareness

It pulsed, lower now
Like humming, out of mind
Letting us know, a god now strode

We could feel it, where it looked
It's attention, driven us mad
And now, we live in its shadow
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