there is, within the dark waters of some haunted lake, a deep pit that leads to an underwater cave (that cave begins at my throat, and expands in all its largeness just below my heart), there are creatures unknown to man in this cave, there are poisons unknown to man in this cave, there are poisonous blind fish and poisonous all-knowing plants, there are poisons that give one the death-sickness, that cause one to die while still living, to walk among the dead while still living (and the dead wander and walk, this is all that they do), there are ghosts walking the floor of this underwater cave as if they weren’t in water, they don’t float at all, they wander the bottoms of this dark cave with no buoyancy, as if they weren’t under water, no man has ever been to this cave at the bottom of this haunted lake (the cave starts in my throat and expands infinitely just below my heart), it is a refuge of the wild things of the earth, it is a refuge of all the beasts of the earth who have nowhere else to flee to, no other dark place or crevice to flee into, it is a place of snakes and every species of reptile, every creeping thing, every slithering thing, every crawling thing, every swimming thing (there are no mammals there, everything is tough hairless skin and scales), this place is your secret expanse, this place is your secret wilderness, I shall open it up for you and you alone, come with me to this haunted place, we shall haunt this haunted place with the rest of the dead, the dead travel here and are turned cruel and bitter, the dead walk and wander this place turning very cruel and bitter and mean (the dead wander and walk, and do nothing else), the only light here is the blue glow of ghosts, the only life here is the crazy life of purgatory, everything is half-flesh and half-spirit and complete agony, here there is much of soulful wandering, here there is much of searching and seeking (what are you seeking, O spirits, why do you constantly wander and walk?), there is no day or night here, there is no springtime and fall, no winter and summer, this is your agonizing limbo, this is your secret heart (it is I), this is your stolen life and your saved life and your sacrificed life, nothing is alive here, nothing is dead here, there are no moon cycles here, there are no star or sun cycles here, there is no clock here, everything is eternal and one here, everything is haunted and everything lives in the past here, some of us here were murdered, some of us here were suicides, we don’t know how long we’ve been here, there is nothing to count the hours with here, we are in one long long moment here with nothing to break that moment into sections or parts, this is my secret heart (and here you have the crazy jungle), this is my dark corner and crevice, I cannot stand the light, we flee from the light, we are shadows that cannot live in light, all is black, come with me to this secret place, I shall let you in and you alone, this shall be our purgatory, this shall be our dark abode, come wander and walk and search and seek with me, we shall walk on as specters forever, we shall wander on as phantasms forever, at this very moment the noose is descending about your neck, the gallows are waiting, sweet man,