The Lost Temple of Xantoos

Celestial fantasies of deathless night. Enraptured colonnades adorned with pearls, Resplendent guardians of crimson light. Expanse of darkness silently unfurls Among colossal ruins on this shore, That once was purled by Xantoos' rolling seas; Nothing remains upon this barren core Of Mars, but your palatial memories.

Your altars and magnificent black gods Still flash beneath the sapphire torches' flames, The fragrant ring of sacred flowers nods Beneath the monstrous idols' gilded frames. Your jeweled gates swing open on their bands Of gold; within, a lurid shadow stands. Howard Calhoun