Macabre/Number 5/Revenants for Howard Phillips Lovecraft

by August Derleth

Revenants

for Howard Phillips Lovecraft

By owl's light, bat-flight
in the small hours of the night
I start awake to fearful sound ...

What trembles underground
far down, down deep
on the perimeter of sleep?
What shuddering ululation rises but half-clear
to tempt the outward-straining ear?
Who calls upon the Ancient Ones indifferent to man's race? --
Shub-Niggurath, Cthulhu with the face
of tentacles, Nyarlathotep, Azathoth -- who wait
forever on the rim of time and space.

The hour is late
for human kind; in R'lyeh's deeps
Great Cthulhu sleeps,
and Hastur lurks beyond the Hyades.

What moves across the stars, just past the trees?
What monstrous shadow lengthens tangibly
beneath the moon?
beneath the moon? Howard, this is your legacy.

-- August Derleth

********