This poem is for Hellboy and probably long overdue. I hope that it is even in the vicinity of your very high standards and that you enjoy it.
The Susurrus
A susurrus in the wind
A zephyr along the highway of heaven and hell
Hellboy seeks with his far seeing eyes
That see beyond the future
To the time on the Morpheus Road
Where the great multitudes swarm
He seeks out each individual’s path
And their deathly destination
A susurrus in the wind
A zephyr along the highway of life and death
He sees an ancient figure
Bound for the ethereal plains
Filled with wraiths and phantasms
That hide in the mists and vapours
That torment the mind with ghosts and memories
From ages past
A susurrus in the wind
A zephyr along the highway of anger and sorrow
Hellboy watches a young child
Stand alone in the Field of Asphodel
His identity already fading
His pale spirit merging with the others
Joining the repetitious cycle
In the dreary grey grass
Of eternal stillness and neutrality
A susurrus in the wind
A zephyr along the highway of silence and commotion
Hellboy shades his eyes from the bold man’s fate
Who lived a life of cruelty and malice
Turning others joys incarnadine
As he walks the way to Sheol
To be purged in unquenchable fire
And smell the stench of his own roasting flesh
And taste the bitter flavour of charred hair and blackened skin
A susurrus in the wind
A zephyr along the highway of laughter and hatred
Yet here on the Morpheus road he spots a kindly woman
Who will spend her after life in the Blest Isles of Elysium
Safe from harm and suffering in an island of beauty paramount
Rewarded for her grace and virtue
She will find peace
A susurrus in the wind
A zephyr along the highway of war and peace
Yet few make the Blest Isles
Hellboy sighs
As the Road takes another victim
Destined for the dank dungeons of Niflhel
Where they will languish in the gloom
With slime brushed walls and dripping rocks
With only goats urine to sate their thirst
A susurrus in the wind
A zephyr along the highway of time and space
Far above the caves of Niflhel the sounds of feasting
Emanate from the Hall of Asgard
As a new arrival enters the Hall of Valhalla
To drink and feast in utmost luxury
Attended to by their personal Valkyrie
A mighty warrior devours a plump boar
As the mead flows freely
A susurrus in the wind
A zephyr along the highway of loneliness and companionship
The Pit of Tartarus
Hellboy shivers at the name
As he senses another soul
Enter oblivion
Tortured by beings greater than gods
Eyes stabbed out by mechanical men
The weeping sores oozing pus and blood
A plaything of Kronos
A susurrus in the wind
A zephyr along the highway of grief and comfort
Hellboy watches as another soul approaches the Pearly Gates
A convocation of angels in gold and white smile down
From the pure white banks of clouds that fill the pristine sky
An unearthly glow of majesty and splendour
A susurrus in the wind
A zephyr along the highway of order and chaos
The Five Rivers of Hades converge in a frothing torrent
Acheron- River of Sorrow
Cocytus- River of Lamentation
Phlegethon- River of Fire
Lethe- River of Oblivion
And Styx- River of Hate
They surround the Morpheus Road in swirling glory
In shades of darkest night to deepest crimson
And in the very centre of this quercivorous pool
With jet black obsidian shores
And amaranth tides
Stands a sentinel, a Silent One
Presiding over the multitude
Known only as Hellboy
A susurrus in the wind
A zephyr along the highway of air and fire
The sentinel looks out across the vast varied underworld
Yet fears to look into his own future
Or the core of his heart
He hears not the ringing for it is a knell
To summon him to heaven or to hell
A susurrus in the wind
A zephyr along the highway of humanity
