PICTURESQUE POETICS

Greetings newcomer, we bid you welcome.

This year, from all the world, you are chosen,

So it is with every year, only one.

Do not revile my face,

You will not wear yours for long;

Meatish weakness you'll replace,

Our care makes a stomach strong.

Follow me, new Lordling, you've much to see

In our five caves beside the Shrieking Sea;

Tis time to behold your high destiny.

 

The First cave needs must be despicably sane,

Packed with deeds, devices and bodies mundane;

Still, tis the first blow to leave your old self slain.

Therein are mortal delights,

Therein is commonplace flesh,

Therein is meat's paltry frights,

Therein meat is yours to thresh.

With all eternity now yours to use,

You may linger here as long as you choose,

Till your last mundane appetite you lose.

 

There is always more meat for the First cave,

Tribute always comes o'er the Shrieking waves,

It oft comes bound, given from hands depraved.

More presume to join out kith,

Some bumblers are shipwrecked here,

We take them all to toy with;

Use each one for your own cheer.

In bygone centuries, when we were young,

We thought there'd be no end to the old fun,

But never returned there once we were done.

 

You'll feel old when you reach the next cave,

Desire will be spent, naught will be sought

Save for the serenity of the grave,

But our teachings shall restore

Your youth and your passion both,

Reborn then, passion redeemed;

There begins your true self's birth.

In the Second cave you will start to see

There's much to learn, much to do, much to bleed.

 

There you shall learn the mastery of dreams,

There you shall discover the twisting beams

And cross them, seventeen new worlds to find.

Each world shall change your body,

Your tired flesh you'll forget;

Maddening things you shall see,

Culling sanity and regret.

Cunning you'll grow to catch blood for passage,

Adventurous deeds of seeding you'll wage

And make princely delectations of rage.

 

Of course, such fascination is finite,

All, in time, grows familiar to sight,

Wonder cannot forever fly with flight;

So you'll come back to the coast,

Your fulfilment eludes you,

You will bear no wish to boast;

Good, your trek is not yet through,

So enter the Third cave and sit you down,

Receive wisdom ere you take your crown,

There it breathes, there it rises out the ground.

 

The first of us, our Founders, old as time

Whisper their secrets to our youngest minds,

The last lingering fallacies unwind.

Transfixed for years you'll listen,

Your final shape shall don

Remade, almost perfection

But not quite yet, so keep on.

The Fourth cave is mickle of consequence,

A joyous realm of death and recompense

Whose like shall intrigue you, so get you hence.

 

Take a step and worlds are bathed in fire,

Raise an arm, meatish fates twist like wire,

At first, no act shall match your desire.

Tis tricky to master,

The hub of destiny;

Consequence comes faster

Than you'll have means to see.

Long must you labour for understanding,

Doing much harm with each moment's learning,

But harm unto meat will 'scape your caring.

 

Yet the moment the mastery you gain,

You will swiftly find no cause to remain,

For you'll have outgrown the Fourth Cave's domain.

In your bones, you will know

Tis but a child's toy

Set 'gainst how great you'll grow

And all you shall enjoy.

Then this existence, this reality

Will be too small to bear your majesty,

Within the Fifth Cave lies your true glory.

 

You will see the imperceptible strings,

Which require one moment's noticing

To weave new existence's origin.

You'll have learned all you can

From us, from our teachings,

Your rule will be at hand,

Your own realm creating.

An entire dimension shall be yours,

given form and purpose by you, its Lord.

Joy and satisfaction be yours to hoard...

 

And may you never grow bored.