Avant Fantasia Nox

Lo, 'twas in dream’s abyssal shade I stray’d
Where no sun’s fair hand the dark allay’d
A vast and formless void did yawn
Bereft of stars, nor heralded dawn

Yet in that gloom, a beauty dire did dwell
A chasm deep, an unspoken spell
A melody strange, unearthly and dread
By mortal ear ne’er safely read

The air did quiver thick with might
Aether’s breath, both sweet and blight
Forms unshapen in the murk did glide
Neither flesh nor spirit, but worlds beside

Most who glimpse such alien grace  
Would flee in haste from that accursed place
For in its depths doth madness lie
A siren’s call that bids minds die

Yet I, strange soul, was drawn at last
By beauty  in the gloom so vast
For where light falters, dark doth bloom
A splendour found within the tomb

Their haunting song, their voiceless hymn
Did beckon me from the daylight dim
A shadow’d path, no safe return
Where mortal hearts to ash do burn

Strangling night—thy name I breathe
In thee, my soul its solace sheathes
Though others quake at thy silent art
Thy darkling beauty claims my heart