Haunted Wood

Necromancers:

Now is the hour:

as night approaches;

As withdraws the sun,

let dreams haste hither!

Let every tree watch

with eyes a-blaze;

Let the crevasses gape

as cavernous maws;

Let the breeze, leaf-laden

through the branches quivering

Turn crooked boughs

into clutching talons,

Hollow oaks

into howling phantoms,

Weeping willows

into wicked witches,

Glow-worms

into a ghoulish gaze,

And the shadows of palms

into sharp-toothed monsters;

Let a fall from the bank

into foaming shallows

Turn rotten logs

into ravenous caimans

Slippery soil into pseudo-ophidians

And tatter’d roots

into terrible tentacles;

Let fear and terror

follow him everywhere,

Let horrors harry

and haunt him endlessly!

Within the hour, he leapt to his feet 

and ran about 

like a young elephant in breeding-season, 

and trampled all in his path. 

Every tree watched him

with eyes a-blaze;

Crevasses gaped

as cavernous maws;

The breeze, leaf-laden

through the branches quivering

Turned crooked boughs

into clutching talons,

Hollow oaks

into howling phantoms,

Weeping willows

into wicked witches,

Glow-worms

into a ghoulish gaze,

And the shadows of palms

into sharp-toothed monsters;

A fall from the bank

into foaming shallows

Turned rotten logs

into ravenous caimans,

Slippery soil

into pseudo-ophidians,

And tatter’d roots

into terrible tentacles;

Fear and terror

followed him everywhere,

While horrors harried

and haunted him endlessly.