In a dark pit he dwelt
Erebos, Son of Ares, Keeper of Souls,
Lover of Darkness, Borne of Evil.
With his headdress of fins and claws of death.
His alluring, devilish eyes,
Pools of yellow and oval like a lake.
The toughest ships and men he could
Break and crush in his ghastly grip
Through bones and rock and wood could
His glistening serrated teeth penetrate.
Adorned with the spots of a leopard and jewels of a pharaoh,
His lofty head held high. And
His sleek blue body, the color of
A deep, dark sea, his eyes flaming
From sockets of azure. Upon
His back, a row of spikes just
As sharp and just as monstrous
As his teeth. But despite his
Menacing and intimidating appearance,
He holds within his head the wit
Of a man, an intellect and guile nearly
As well-developed as any human’s.
No more cowardice could be drawn
From a man staring death in the face,
Than when he laid eyes upon the fangs
Of the mighty sea serpent.
The blood that dripped there from his fangs
Spelled out the end and fate of many a man.

His cave of blackness and despair was home,
The detritus of old bones and rubbish
Of men littering his floor.
On a bed of the finest Asian silks he dozed,
Keeping goblets of blood close.
The darkness kept him at ease,
With its lonely atmosphere and impenetrable
Silence. The water dripped and cascaded down the walls
Of his underwater lair. One could take care
Of where they walked, but wouldn’t get far
Without stepping on and crushing discarded bones.
His home of solitude he loved, like a hermit in
His forest retreat.

Among the most displeasing and drawn
Out of days, he hated his curses the most.
Eternal damnation for stealing from the Gods,
He lived the rest of his days stealing from the
Mortals, his beloved mortals. Erebos was not a creature of
Complexity, nor grace, nor nobility. And so he connected
With the mere and hapless mortals who dwelt in the
Human world, on Mother Earth.
And now, as payment for his dastardly actions,
He had to take the lives of many a sailor who passed his
Unholy pit of despair, and with him keep their tortured souls.
Alone forever, he remains. For no other immortal wishes
to be affiliated with him and his unforgivable deeds.
For they too, despite their innocence may be anathematized
As well as Erebos to be a creature of death and dread,
One of spite and hatred unstoppable.
By their cries he slept and their pitiful moans he hunted.
His music of the underworld, his melody of sin.