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Goblin Moon by Michael Pendragon

GOBLIN MOON

 



Tonight the goblin moon burns red

And ghost clouds sail across the sky,

As, one by one, the restless dead

Go marching slowly by.

 

Tonight a chill rides on the breeze

As down a long and crooked trail

Strange shadows skitter through the trees

And stars grow deathly pale.

 

Once down that long and lonely trail

My fearful charger picked his way,

We shuddered at the North wind's wail

And prayed for break of day.


But it was yet the midnight hour

When devils prowl and banshees cry,

And shining through an oaken bower

The goblin moon was high.


The goblin moon is white as snow

And old men know its eerie light

Can set the will-o'-wisps aglow

And fill men's hearts with fright.


For on such nights, so legends tell

The goblin hordes are round about,

They open up the gates of Hell

And let night's demons out.

 

No nightmare born of rarebit stew

Could match the horrors of that night

As thick with ghosts as witches' brew

And not a soul in sight.


Across the land with whip in hand

I spurred the frightened charger on,

He sprang like fire at my command

Though hope and strength were gone.


Through wood and fen and back again

We raced to meet the coming dawn,

But witchcraft charmed my horse's rein

And turned his feet to stone.


We wound up in a wooded glade

Where screech owls cried and bats took wing,

And demons pranced in promenade

Before their goblin king.


The goblin king is wintry blue,

His teeth are sharp icicle spears,

With long white hair and crooked shoe

And pointy elfin ears.


"Who dares intrude upon my court?"

The goblin monarch bellowed forth,

"A mortal man," a sprite replied,

"Atop a mortal horse."


"No man hath seen the goblin throne

Whose flesh and bone were not long dead,

Before this hallowed night hath flown

I'll have this mortal's head!"


Throughout the glade the dead men rose

With gaping skulls and empty eyes,

And every time the North wind blows

I still can hear their cries.


The dead men closed around my steed

And reached for me with bony hands,

I cracked my whip with lightning speed

And galloped through their bands.


Across the glade and through the wood

Then down the long and crooked trail,

We raced before the demon brood

Fierce as a South Seas gale.


At last we reached an open field

That marked the haunted forest's end,

Lights from a nearby town revealed

That help was 'round the bend.


The streets were dark, the doors locked tight

The little town was shuttered fast,

Down by the bay, a tavern light

Called to me as I passed.


I hitched my charger to the post

And knocked upon the wooden door,

Was greeted by the friendly host

Then dropped upon the floor.


Next morning I awoke to find

Myself upon a feather bed,

'Twas but a dream that I'd resigned

To banish from my head.


I rushed downstairs to break my fast

The morning sky was flush with light,

But as I passed a looking glass

I saw my hair'd turned white.


So hear my words and mark them well

Beware the moon that burns blood red,

Beware the wicked goblins' spell

And stay at home instead.


Beware the deadly goblin moon

Bolt up your doors and windows tight

The devil's hour comes all too soon

When dead men walk the night.


Tonight the goblin moon is high

When demons fly and ghosts take wing,

And brush the stars from out the sky

To hide their goblin king.

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