I came to rest beside a placid lake.
I'd run all night, and then I had to stop.
At daybreak, when my strength had given out,
awearily down to my knees I sank.
Fear crippled me and darkness I foresaw,
Yet faint I was, too powerless to rise.
Alas, sick fascination forced my eyes
to look into the dark, enthralling deeps.
There did I see a thing, a pallid face
that stared at me with horrid, rictus grin.
Cold eyes and sneering maw, it ghastly lurked.
I felt it was inhuman, felt its wrath.
Of course I knew this beast, I knew it well
– it was the very one that I had fled.
It beckoned me and I held out my hand...
Lake's surface rippled once and then stood still.

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