Aurophobia

Once, 37 years ago today,

My crew and I visited a ruined city

Whose rocky towers shone of yellow

And whose streets smelt of solidago

Whose capacious skies looked down

Unto the surface of an empty, yet lively scape

Whose center bore a fabled artifact

Of peoples and worlds past history’s grasp.

Once, 37 years ago today,

I touched the legendary stone,

Whose calaverite surface shone with life,

Beckoning in old tongues forgotten by Man,

Whose strange engravings seemed to shift and undulate

With each and every motion my fingertips made ‘cross it,

Whose very core bore a voice deeper than any creature,

The tone of whom was something to fear.

Once, 37 years ago today,

The stone spoke to me of the ages before time,

Where that city was home to its disciples,

Who worshipped and pampered the entity within

That stone, so impossibly old, whose voice

Whispered quaint messages of the cosmos and its nature,

Whose exaltedness turned to rage

As its people began to turn to false idols.

Once, 37 years ago today,

The telluride bauble whispered maniacally,

As it told me how it burned those heathens to the ground,

Punishing them for their hubris; their heresy; their foolishness.

Once, 37 years ago today,

The stone of that ancient city whispered this:

“Prepare your weapons, your walls, your loved ones,

For the Golden Jewel of Phaephanogog shall have its revenge.”

Now, 37 years later, I see the moon grow golden with shimmering hatred,

As the clouds part to reveal a gargantuan, gilded eye.

“People of Earth,” it spoke with malice.

“Your rightful ruler has returned!”

Now, 37 years later, the streets run red with the blood of slaughtered souls,

Glistening with lost screams while Phaephanogog cackles maniacally.

All books of worship burn tonight,

As fear-stricken townsfolk threw bricks through the windows

Of the churches, temples, and mosques, whose flocks were left to be smothered.

Now, 37 years later, I watch the lost god of Man show its true form,

As insectoid limbs and a segmented body appear in the sky,

And as three terrifying, compound eyes stare back at me,

I know now who this world belongs to.