The Sins of the Fathers

 
When I dared to sleep in my fathers' bed,
Fashioned from the depth of primeval needs,
Spirits of the night whirled through my head,
Evil things in capes the unconscious breeds,
Spawned in darkness, raised to curry fright,
Ancient shadow shapes with bloodstained claws,
 
Bestial apparitions who never know the light,
Silencing my screams with suffocating paws;
And though I arose when day cleared the air,
A rictus from the past enveloped my features.
On the city streets the decent people stare,
For now I embody these shadow-bound creatures
 
From the raucous depths of Hell's unholy din,
Demons, fiends and revenants...devil's kin!

Appeared in Weird Tales 1988