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
