(In which the boyhoods of Dr. Knox and William Hare mold their decrepit destinies) “…From my earliest childhood I have been a dreamer and a visionary…. I have dwelt ever apart from the visible world. Well did I come to know the presiding dryads of those trees, and often have I watched their wild dances in the struggling beams of a waning moon – but of these things I must not now speak. I will tell only of the lone tomb in the darkest of the hillside thickets….” – H.P Lovecraft, The Tomb Dr. Knox: Mem’ry haunts me clearly The winter of my thirteenth year Wind moaned through headstones dreary A siren song only I could hear A fevered brain infected Where terrors spawned each night A young man grew dejected A waking dream, a fright amongst frights Dr. Knox: Though my symptoms at last abated And the coughing fits did surcease An insalubrious nature gestated Breeding malaise, a subtle disease Narrator: Then with each pa**ing breath In life, he dwelt in d**h Dr. Knox: This truth I now confess: Dr. Knox: A morbid mind obsessed Unhealthy thoughts depressed By cryptic dreams possessed To ever dwell among, the lifeless Lifeless! Hare: A casket-builder’s low-born boy Child of the grave in name and fact Grey days and nights in dark employ Set destiny ‘pon its d**hly path Hare: Dismissed as morbid youth Obsessions quite uncouth Led to unpleasant truths Hare / Dr. Knox: A morbid mind obsessed Unhealthy thoughts depressed By cryptic dreams possessed To ever dwell among, the lifeless As all life ends in d**h So with each pa**ing breath My destiny professed To ever dwell among, the lifeless Dr. Knox: Into the family crypt, I stealthily crept Knowing not what I sought ‘mongst the mold and the rot A sight that was not soon forgot And as I lay in the grave, finding the solace I’d craved At peace there with the decayed, though they called me depraved It was there a dark path was paved Solo – Matthew Harvey Solo – Michael Burke Dr. Knox / Hare: A morbid mind obsessed Unhealthy thoughts depressed By cryptic dreams possessed To ever dwell among, the lifeless As all life ends in d**h So with each pa**ing breath A destiny professed To ever dwell among, the lifeless