From the Lair Penumbral

In the infant kingdom of good Lord Innocence,
A cluster of villages along a valley's span,
Harmony and happiness ruled by thoughtless trance
As the fertile Earth answered every serf's demand.
Philosophy was practicality, nothing more;
Not a lament-laced tear wet the river's shore.

With time the stars aligned gave a grim sign,
So awoke the Dragon within the abandoned wood
Who read the stellar runes, now stamped on the mind.
Obeying, he lifted from the frontier none understood
To descend, a firestorm from the unnamed hell,
And decimate the dreamy solace of the moonlit dell.

By daylight noble Innocence lay ignobly slain,
Over whom loomed the Horror in full bloom;
The kingdom conquered was now the reptile's domain.
Serf, soldier, and smith shrank before the voice of doom,
"Follow I, for yours will be all under the sky,
My Decrees you deny, and all without question will die."

Henceforth the arts of arms and gendarmes were taught
To every man hungry for power or tainted by hate,
Who marched to lands untouched and took all they sought:
Life by sword, liberty by chain, land by force, loot by crate.
So the valley principality grew to an almighty empire,
Pawns guided- pain, predominance, prosperity the people sired.

In the greatest valley mount the Dragon made his lair,
A cavern that entrapped air but gave no breath,
Where all light leapt from scales brimming lightening flares
That danced aflame over gossamer folds to cold Lethe.
Long before the tail did bore and tore to the infernal gates,
Tapping the primal energies and moving the tectonic plates.

The unease power fulfilled ferries to him too pleased
Came to the Dragon, who brooding in the seething heat,
Contemplated the treasures taken when an idea he seized
Teased the snagging knots that held his insight deplete.
Thoughts aflood brought blood to a madness alight,
Claws on stone shrieked through the darkness of night.

Startled rest granted no arrest to a nightmare manifest
That lingered liquid with the slumber-dragged Observer
Who, Other-propelled, glided through shades and dire crevice
To hear, "The Puzzle binding all is ripped together.
Gaze there and pierce the haze that cloaks our Fate.
Certain Knowledge and Sure Unknowing, they shall dissipate."

A glance that shot from the beholder's periphery
Engulfed and drowned him in the clear Mystery.