Ex Oblivione
"Ex Oblivione" is a prose poem by American horror fiction writer H. P. Lovecraft, written in late 1920 or early 1921 and first published in The United Amateur in March 1921, under the pseudonym Ward Phillips.
Inspiration
An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia suggests that the theme of "Ex Oblivione"—that nothingness is preferable to life—was derived from Lovecraft's reading the philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer. Lovecraft expressed similar sentiments in non-fiction work at the time, writing in In Defense of Dagon, "There is nothing better than oblivion, since in oblivion there is no wish unfulfilled."
Synopsis
It is written in first person and tells of the dreams of a presumably dying man. In his dreams, the man is walking through a valley and encounters a vine-covered wall with a locked bronze gate therein. He longs to know what lies beyond the gate.
Then one night, the man dreams of the dream-city Zakarion, in which he finds a yellowed papyrus written by wise dream-sages who exist only within the dream world. The papyrus tells of the gate, with varying accounts of what lies beyond: some of the dream-sages tell of immense wonders, while others tell of horror and disappointment.
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by Insision
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Ex Oblivione
by: InsisionIn remembrance of H.P Lovecraft 1890-1937
Engaged in dreams.
But the vision is more then it seems.
Beyond this waste,
lies warm gardens that shines in their grace.
-Take me there!
I'm so tired and broken.
Over the oceans of dust
beyond the memory-shores.
-Give me a journey,
an endless one.
Beyond the mirror lake,
and all of its horrors
And so he slept through this dream as a weeping child,
seeking an passage to this promised land
And so in the distance,
he saw a cooping,
and then a wall, all covered with ivy.
-This is it!
I have arrived.
Beyond this wall lies beauty for miles.
In the wall was a door almost in gold.
Thou he struggled with all his strength,
the door were locked.
-Why is this?
This cannot be.
The door is locked
I have no key...
So came a voice whispering...
The voice came screaming...
-ZAKARION!
...Whispering
the voice came screaming...
ZAKARION!
Zakarion the dreamer's town,
in which he found the key.
The bolt to the secret door,
a drug to make him see...
...Far beyond this waste,
so he travelled forth.
Undid the gate and gazed into
what he thought was...
...Warm gardens that shined in their grace,
was now nothing, just emptiness and space.
A thick silence and a smoothing embrace
as he stared into Chtus face...
His soul was drained.
His mind was gone.
As he drifted away
into obliviones