Page:Betelguese, a trip through hell.djvu/92

84 Assail each mongrel afrite's breath.

Hushed gasps permeate the solemn air

As coral Twilight flaunts its sheen,

And vapours wreath phantastic forms

Till vaulted domes glow like the noon.

Vague dreams plague souls beyond repair,

Phantoms, black demons call their queen,

Skinks and owls whom no conscience storms

Make faces at the leprous moon.

And bleak dungeons dank with odours

Strong, within each encrusted gyre,

'Mid treasure-vaults digged by gray Age,

Affronting witches incense burn;

And howling ghouls gape thro' vapours,

Two siffling vampyres dance on fire,

Each mottled sage a conqueréd page

To him whose hate no Doom can turn,

No bat-faced gnome can stem the blaze:

Hence harlots, ghastly with giant sin,

Chant runes to him in strobic gloom

As figgum's plied before his throne.