Darkening Nettle

'Didst thou see, timorous wretch, cowering anon
nursing yesterday's alms, seeping, lamenting, a dolorous song

Yea, 'twas a blackened hour, midst a darkened pool
Eldritch shapes amorphous, within time's failing spool

Dour rays fell down, carving their blight
Stenciling out cobblestones, masonry, grout

Burnished alum, stayed close to hand,
As behind shuttered gate, the city keep vowed, to fain, protect the land

Cast thou gaze hence, and thou mayst espy the abomination
feed of noisome glove, and smite the fingers of Corinthian's temptation

These words match the vellum, from which they were torn,
Rotten and spoilt, as raiment, no longer worn

Step lively now child! be firm of resolve!
For thou moments are marked, as the arm, gently cradles the twelve...