Some One Behind You?

He glances neither right nor left

At He-Who-Walks-Behind

His mouth is sealed, his sense bereft

He stumbles as though blind

For he is summoned by the Eft

And he was hard to find.

 

The Eft have Things to do their work

As He-Who-Walks-Behind

Android or formless they may lurk

Where shadows fog the mind

For they thrive best in sluggish murk

And tight their tendrils bind.

 

Implacable and mute as stone

Is He-Who-Walks-Behind

He is not flesh, He is not bone

He is not cruel or kind

He walks by night, but not alone

Is He-Who-Walks-Behind.

 

No matter where you hide or pray

From He-Who-Walks-Behind

Someday He’ll find you, yes, someday

He’ll come and stand behind

The head you cannot turn away

The eyes you cannot rind.

 

And then your terror, white or fane

To He-Who-Walks-Behind

Will make no difference, for pain

Both horrible and blind

Will dip into your cringing brain

And clutch your shrieking mind.

 

The icy touch of the embrace

Of He-Who-Walks-Behind

Is cold, is colder than the trace

Of shadow undefined

That wakes you, screaming in the face

Of He-Who-Walks-Behind.

 

And when they see your vacant stare

Your white eyes, dead and blind

Beyond which mask unfocused there

Is crawling blackness twined

Take care, then, mortal man, beware

Of He-Who-Walks-Behind.

6/6/43

Note: Originally published in Thelema Lodge Calendar, March 1994.