Saturday, July 4, 2020

Nyctalops



Read "Nyctalops" at The Eldritch Dark:

http://www.eldritchdark.com/writings/poetry/387/nyctalops

This poem marks a return to Clark Ashton Smith (CAS) at his very best, combining elements of mythology, nature, and the supernatural.  Not surprisingly, this poem saw publication in Weird Tales magazine in October 1929.

Each stanza of "Nyctalops" could stand on its own as a short poem, with the fifth stanza being a great example:


We have seen the satyrs
Their ancient loves renew
With moon-white nymphs of cypress,
Pale dryads of the yew,
In the tall grass of graveyards
Weighed down with evening's dew.


Nonetheless, the poem works brilliantly as a series of vistas available only to those with true night vision, and ends with a powerful couplet that only CAS could deliver:


We have seen the black suns

Pouring forth the night.

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