St George poem- Chapter 1- Part 6

"There is a cave not far from here,
A great wound in the ground,
Whose entrance opens into black-
If one goes down, he comes not back,
Nor is he ever found.

As one draws near a stench exudes
Of rotting flesh and bone;
The darkness there is palpable,
Of courage none is capable
When passing by alone.

From thence there came, not six months gone,
Out of the depths of earth
A beast, a monster, Silene's bane,
A living fear that hath no name
A creature from the deepest pit-
Some demon had begotten it-
A wyrm of woe-inducing lust
That crawls along and eats the dust,
The murderer of our mirth.

It fell upon our little town,
It terrorised our homes and streets,
It spewed forth flames and baleful fire,
More destructive than desire,
More enduring than love's heat.

The furnace in its belly flowed,
Its hot breath burned our huts to ash,
Cruel claws closed on our little ones
With hatred like the desert sun's,
As shameless as the slaveman's lash.

With teeth sharp as Egyptian scythes
On which our men were cruelly gored,
And eyes that pierce a soul with fear,
Like a snake's, a sickly gold they were,
More fearful than the deplorable word.

Their gaze was terror concentrate;
No man could stand before that stare.
So few could find the will to fight;
Cowards we were that grisly night,
Yet, spite of shame, we cowered there.

Like virgins in a city sacked,
Silene was ravished that bleak day;
All smoke and ash and blood of men
Did stain the ground of Silene when
At last the creature went away.