I swam below the surface of a lake
   And found myself within a curious hall,
   Lined with bronze columns, somber-black and tall;
On them I heard the evil gray waves break.
Sudden the granite floor began to shake;
   A monster strode from out an iron stall;
   Before his gryphon feet I reeled, to fall
As one who, dreaming, struggles to awake.

Upon my lips he set his grisly mouth
As to allay some fierce, demoniac drouth.
   A broken shell, I tread the earth in vain;
      My comrades are the goblin and the troll,
   Since One in that forgotten, sunken fane
      In evil hunger sucked from me my soul.