The Rise of Cthulhu's Kingdom
by Michael Doyle

I.

The world around us is in crisis.
Yet it is just as it finds us. 
Those we call friends try to advise us
About all the badness they think we need because..

Things couldn't be bad enough
As we find our way through this emergency.
We survivors try to hand on tough
Though the truth is that we've lost our identity.

We do all we can just to make it home.
Mostly, because we fear being alone.
It feels like most of our priorities are up for auction,
And all we can do is wait for the After Action

Reporting on the reasons we've lost our stability.
All we can do is stare in the mirror of what is to be.
The house we grew up in holds its dark memory,
Like the legacy of its dysfunctional family.

Steamed-up mirrors hide only half of the truth.
That's the lesson of life that keeps us aloof.
We exchange calls with those we no longer know.
That's when the tensions run through start to show.

II.

The problem is that no one listens anymore,
But the gift in the basement knows the score.
Ill-intended small talk has no turn but to fight.
Our ancestors made us who we are in today's light.

Relics are found that have a rare meaning.
The demons are found within human beings
As each tries to be something we are not, 
And our meanings like relics are lost, and forgot.

We can find our answers full throttle.
They are present at the bottom of the bottle.
Tales are told of death; we cannot refuse.
Kids have disappeared with each sip of the booze.

The ancient ones eat the children of sorrow.
In these stories are lessons for tomorrow.
Unexpected pleas reflect lives lived in terror.
Evil is reflected in this passage of mirrors.

Each passage is a secret of change.
Some things in life won't rearrange.
No matter how the waves beat on the coast,
The fear in our eyes is the kind that likes to boast.

III.

Dark and twisted are the wanton ways of desire,
Though the urges felt burn like passion's fire.
Some believers drink the Kool-Aid of latent hate,
But some struggle against humanity's fate.

Searching for answers in the black of night,
Fear brings our demons into plain sight.
Shadows flicker as the sacrifice is begun,
Cthulhu is calling as he has always done.

Seen in the darkness is the mind's wicked eye.
It goes away for those about to die.
Visions of past bodies pile in the light
The ancient ones have come to reveal the final night.

The scenes seen are filled with mistake.
Sacrifices are made that make the soul shake.
The auctioneer of our past life will be crying.
Such is the history of old gods dying.

They are waiting on the other side of suicide.
The fortune of the world is left to decide.
This is the welcome home for the unbeliever -
Beware the beached shadow of the dark deceivers.

IV.

Down below is the hidden story
Of another time lived without glory.
The Marsh men are creatures of the sea.
Eternal life is Cthulhu's cherished mystery.

Mankind's bungled moments cannot be borne,
As the waters rise on that dark morn.
Mankind has caused its own demise.
The end does not come to anyone as a surprise.

Still, as death and rampant violence
Echo across the world with its  great vigilance,
The world of mankind will soon be lost.
This, then, is the plan and tragic cost.

In the wake of this scene of devastation,
Those who are to come will do so with inspiration.
This is the spawn of which they openly warn.
The evil of tomorrow is already born.

The old world is dying with lasting sacrifice.
There is no love but enough hate to suffice.
Here now from the tragic seas they at last come
To build on this earth, the pillars of Cthulhu's kingdom.

(c) October 3, 2025   Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved