Page:Satanella (1932).pdf/46

 Wheresoever on his journey

Bat-like wings, the monster lowered,

Groves were stilled, the waters vanished,

Orchards wasted, grasses withered.

And much worse, the people dying

Suddenly and naught availing,

Like the playful moths that flutter

To a tempting light attracted.

All grew bare, the glaring sunshine

Bleached the yellow bones, unburied,

Perished all but cloud-dark vultures

And hyennas in the forests.

And this bird—a plague they called him,

Or a punishment of God—now

Lightly flew o'er every ocean,

Soared above each mountain apex.

In a veil of poisoned vapor

He would fly by night and daylight,

Where he flew, the sun grew crimson,

Howled the dogs where'er he landed.

Fears, lamenting, sighs and curses

Spread he 'fore him in confusion

As he flew from Ural mountains

To Byzantium with tempests.