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XIX. THE BELLS
Year after year I heard that faint, far ringingOf deep-toned bells on the black midnight wind;Peals from no steeples I could ever find,But strange, as if across some great void winging.I searched my dreams and memories for a clue,And thought of all the chimes my visions carried;Of quiet Innsmouth, where the white gulls tarriedAround an ancient spire that once I knew.
Always perplexed I heard those far notes falling,Till one March night the bleak rain splashing coldBeckoned me back through gateways of recallingTo elder towers where the mad clappers tolled.They tolled—but from the sunless tides that pourThrough sunken valleys on the sea's dead floor.
XX. NIGHT-GAUNTS
Out of what crypt they crawl, I cannot tell,But every night I see the rubbery things;Black, horned, and slender, with membranous wings,And tails that bear the bifid barb of hell.They come in legions on the north wind's swell,With obscene clutch that titillates and stings,Snatching me off on monstrous voyagingsTo grey worlds hidden deep in nightmare's well.
Over the jagged peaks of Thok they sweep,Heedless of all the cries I try to make,And down the nether pits to that foul lakeWhere the puffed shaggoths splash in doubtful sleep.But oh! If they would only make some sound,Or wear a face where faces should be found!
XXI. NYARLATHOTEP
And at the last from inner Egypt cameThe strange dark One to whom the fellahs bowed;Silent and lean and cryptically proud,And wrapped in fabrics red as sunset flame.Throngs pressed around, frantic for his commands,But leaving, could not tell what they had heard;While through the nations spread the awestruck wordThat wild beasts followed him and licked his hands.
Soon from the sea a noxious birth began;Forgotten lands with weedy spires of gold;The ground was cleft, and mad auroras rolledDown on the quaking citadels of man.Then, crushing what he chanced in play,The idiot Chaos blew Earth's dust away.
