Visions of Insanity

 

Lost from life, lost of soul,

inhabiting this dark domain,

Through visions of insanity

nothing else remains.

 

What sights are seen, unheralded views

of a madness beyond control,

the insight of a wicked past

brings anger to the soul.

They lock the madmen up in cages

but who is more the sane –

those who live in their denial

or those who seize the pain?

Have you gazed into their eyes

and seen what lies within?

Have you heard the frightful moaning

of a winter’s wind?

Ask yourself the true extent

of your existence on this earth,

not only were you handed life,

but given death in birth.

Some do know and now their lives

are forever governed by

the spectre of the lonely

night, so elegant and divine.

Some are taken into night

and never to return,

others they are led to hell

and always will they burn.

Midnight chimes enshrine the tombstones

and now the dead have stirred,

waking in their graves,

their silent wrath of death incurred.

Through each tomorrow let us walk

where others fear to tread,

make the transition from this life

and seek to embrace the dead.

 

Lost from life, lost of soul

inhabiting this dark domain,

through visions of insanity

nothing else remains.

– Henry Wilfred Clarence (from the Forest Town Chronicles)

(c) Darren Hawbrook

 

***

It’s amazing how the subconscious mind works sometimes, plotting and constructing ideas in the background – ideas we don’t always know how to decipher, let alone convey in any reasonable way.

I wrote this poem many years ago but didn’t know what to do with it, mainly down to its anachronistic style. I was reading a lot of classic literature at the time (Blake, Poe et al.) and was obviously influenced by these writers, not only with my poetry but with my fiction. It was only when I began to commit to paper my ideas for the Forest Town Chronicles that I saw a link between those early scribblings and this fictional world I wanted to create.

I was romanticised by the character of a nineteenth century poet, seduced by the dark practices of the occult, and thus the idea came to me to pass off these pieces as the ouvre of a fictional writer who would help to give a sense of history and identity to Forest Town. And thus the character of Henry Wilfred Clarence was born.

If you’re interest has been piqued in anyway by this post, the first two short books from the series are available on Kindle for 99p ($1.29), or free for Kindle Unlimited readers.

The Dark Rising

The Great Illusory

There is more background on the website and work is underway on the next instalments.