There is a lake in distant Zan, By H.P. Lovecraft There is a lake in distant Zan,Beyond the wonted haunts of man,Where broods alone in a hideous stateA spirit dead and desolate;A spirit ancient and unholy,Heavy with fearsome melancholy,Which from the waters dull and denseDraws vapors cursed with pestilence.Around the banks, a mire of clay,Sprawl things offensive in decay,And curious birds that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1721","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\n
Beyond the wonted haunts of man,
Where broods alone in a hideous state
A spirit dead and desolate;
A spirit ancient and unholy,
Heavy with fearsome melancholy,
Which from the waters dull and dense
Draws vapors cursed with pestilence.
Around the banks, a mire of clay,
Sprawl things offensive in decay,
And curious birds that reach that shore
Are seen by mortals nevermore.
Here shines by day the searing sun
On glassy wastes beheld by none,
And here by night pale moonbeams flow
Into the deeps that yawn below.
In nightmares only is it told
What scenes beneath those beams unfold;
What scenes, too old for human sight,
Lie sunken there in endless night;
For in those depths there only pace
The shadows of a voiceless race.
One midnight, redolent of ill,
I saw that lake, asleep and still;
While in the lurid sky there rode
A gibbous moon that glow\u2019d and glow\u2019d.
I saw the stretching marshy shore,
And the foul things those marshes bore:
Lizards and snakes convuls\u2019d and dying;
Ravens and vampires putrefying;
All these, and hov\u2019ring o\u2019er the dead,
Narcophagi that on them fed.
And as the dreadful moon climb\u2019d high,
Fright\u2019ning the stars from out the sky,
I saw the lake\u2019s dull water glow
Till sunken things appear\u2019d below.
There shone unnumber\u2019d fathoms down,
The tow\u2019rs of a forgotten town;
The tarnish\u2019d domes and mossy walls;
Weed-tangled spires and empty halls;
Deserted fanes and vaults of dread,
And streets of gold uncoveted.
These I beheld, and saw beside
A horde of shapeless shadows glide;
A noxious horde which to my glance
Seem\u2019d moving in a hideous dance
Round slimy sepulchres that lay
Beside a never-travell\u2019d way.
Straight from those tombs a heaving rose
That vex\u2019d the waters\u2019 dull repose,
While lethal shades of upper space
Howl\u2019d at the moon\u2019s sardonic face.
Then sank the lake within its bed,
Suck\u2019d down to caverns of the dead,
Till from the reeking, new-stript earth
Curl\u2019d foetid fumes of noisome birth.
About the city, nigh uncover\u2019d,
The monstrous dancing shadows hover\u2019d,
When lo! there oped with sudden stir
The portal of each sepulchre!
No ear may learn, no tongue may tell
What nameless horror then befell.
I see that lake\u2014that moon agrin\u2014
That city and the things<\/em> within\u2014
Waking, I pray that on that shore
The nightmare lake may sink no more!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"