The House Of Dust: Part 02: 04: Nightmare

 'Draw three cards, and I will tell your future .
 .
 .

Draw three cards, and lay them down,
Rest your palms upon them, stare at the crystal,
And think of time .
 .
 .
 My father was a clown,
My mother was a gypsy out of Egypt;
And she was gotten with child in a strange way;
And I was born in a cold eclipse of the moon,
With the future in my eyes as clear as day.
'

I sit before the gold-embroidered curtain
And think her face is like a wrinkled desert.

The crystal burns in lamplight beneath my eyes.

A dragon slowly coils on the scaly curtain.

Upon a scarlet cloth a white skull lies.


'Your hand is on the hand that holds three lilies.

You will live long, love many times.

I see a dark girl here who once betrayed you.

I see a shadow of secret crimes.


'There was a man who came intent to kill you,
And hid behind a door and waited for you;
There was a woman who smiled at you and lied.

There was a golden girl who loved you, begged you,
Crawled after you, and died.


'There is a ghost of murder in your blood—
Coming or past, I know not which.

And here is danger—a woman with sea-green eyes,
And white-skinned as a witch .
 .
 .
'

The words hiss into me, like raindrops falling
On sleepy fire .
 .
 .
 She smiles a meaning smile.

Suspicion eats my brain; I ask a question;
Something is creeping at me, something vile;

And suddenly on the wall behind her head
I see a monstrous shadow strike and spread,
The lamp puffs out, a great blow crashes down.

I plunge through the curtain, run through dark to the street,
And hear swift steps retreat .
 .
 .


The shades are drawn, the door is locked behind me.

Behind the door I hear a hammer sounding.

I walk in a cloud of wonder; I am glad.

I mingle among the crowds; my heart is pounding;
You do not guess the adventure I have had! .
 .
 .


Yet you, too, all have had your dark adventures,
Your sudden adventures, or strange, or sweet .
 .
 .

My peril goes out from me, is blown among you.

We loiter, dreaming together, along the street.

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