The Susurrus

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