in the Fortress of Sorrow
on the uppermost floor
in the centermost suite
with the heavy bronze door,

there's a hatch in the ceiling
to a dark, drafty room
where a black metal box
is concealed in the gloom.

and in that black box,
when the latch is undone
and the locks are released
to the very last one,

there's a grey, beating mass
made of flesh and of stone
that's so putrid and ugly
and deeply alone.