The Horrors

[MystyrMystyry]

Onto a small and rural farm
Fell an unspeakable spell,
Whence the residents thence did spend
A despicable night in Hell;

First the creaking floorboards
As though someone walked,
The rattling of chains from the cellar,
In the attic two ghosts talked;

This in an unearthly language
Spoke yet without a word;
Those moans and groans the night outside;
On the porch they heard;

The chopping of the axe,
The slamming of the shutters,
The burble of a victim's strangled scream,
As the madman utters:

'Be still this night, this night of ours,'
And beneath the light of a cloudy moon,
From their graves the corpses climb
And he ate their brains with a spoon;

And then the pounding footseps
Coming up the path;
As the lightning forked and the thunder boomed,
Tonight to feel the wrath;

And down in the stable
The horses long they neighed.
And in the barn clucked the chickens
Too scared for eggs to be laid;

A hammering at the door,
And a rattling of the lock,
A skeleton key! And the handle turned
And the storm washed in amok;

But finally the rider,
From far away or near,
From whence no-one would ever know,
The lone rider did arrive here;

His lantern swung on the saddle
Lighting the gloomy way,
And a vision for those distraught souls
Cowering in dismay;

With a wooden wand
And leather whips
A bottle with unknown content,
He waved, and whipped, and wet his lips;

And then he tipped his hat,
Now spent did he slightly sway,
Outside he went, leapt upon his sturdy steed,
And into the storm the rider rode away

[YesNo]

The "lone rider" reminded me of the Lone Ranger except for the wooden wand and lantern. Why were the distraught souls afraid of the rider?

[MystyrMystyry]

Thankyou YesNo :)

Too short to be a proper ballad, I tried to cram a bit too much in. The lone rider came to save them and found them cowering.

Agreed - it definitely needs work