Beneath Carcosa’s dying stars,
Where black Lake Hali gleams,
I walked among the pallid spires
That rise between our dreams.
The twin suns drowned behind the mist,
The heavens bruised and wan,
And somewhere through the empty streets
A mournful song went on.
I found the mask beside the lake,
Its porcelain cold and fair.
I raised it gently to my face
And felt Him waiting there.
At first, I knew the thoughts were mine.
My memories, my name.
The childhood rooms, the hands I loved,
The face from which I came.
But Carcosa remembers differently.
It whispered through the stone.
It showed me lives I never lived,
And graves I called my own.
My name grew distant on my tongue,
My face became unclear.
The voice beneath the yellow silk
Was all that I could hear.
I tried to tear the mask away.
There was no edge to find.
For somewhere in that silent hour
The mask had moved inside.
Now Hali holds my reflection still
Beneath its starless tide.
A stranger watches from the depths
With yellow robes spread wide.
And when the King calls out my name,
I answer, though I know:
That name belonged to someone else,
A very long time ago.