I remember ...
how I tossed and turned
unable to sleep, until my eyes had burned

on that night, long ago, in December ...

and I remember ...
how slow the hours had passed
bringing a slow restlessness ever so fast

and I remember ...
how my uneasiness constricted me until I cried
stronger it came until I knew I must escape outside

I remember ...
how late the night was as though a dream
yet I do not know what I had first seen

but I do remember ...
how one scene-clear and horrible was its pit
yet I do not wish to recall it

... but that night, long ago, in December
I will always remember ...

... for it has obliterated all else forever

I glanced up at the moon and
one time, but one time only

I remember ...
how that hideous moon crept across the land
and I had never felt so lonely

and I remember ...
how the moonlight would cast
a deathliness on all it had passed

to the south the heaven above was bright
but to the north was the emptiness
of this unforgotten night
the stars were shining above cold and white
but their whiteness intensified the ghastliness
of this ill-begotten sight



... nothing lived in all this solitude
... and there came no sound to break this mood
... a maddening silence you could almost feel
... transforming my dread forever more real

and I remember ...
how the stealthy silence would seem to deepen ...
as the echoing reverberations of my weakened ...
steps again fell upon this road ...

... long ago, Tonight, in December .