H.P. Lovecraft - Memory

H.P. LOVECRAFT

MEMORY

Written in 1919
First published The United Co-operative, June 1919

MEMORY

In the valley of Nis the accursed waning moon shines thinly, tearing a path
for its light with feeble horns through the lethal foliage of a great uperas-
tree. And within the depths of the valley, where the light reaches not, move
forms not meant to be beheld. Rank is the herbage on each slope, where evil
vines and creeping plants crawl amidst the stones of ruined palaces, twining
tightly about broken columns and strange monoliths, and heaving up marble
pavements laid by forgotten hands. And in trees that grow gigantic in crumbling
courtyards leap little apes, while in and out of deep treasure-vaults writhe
poison serpents and scaly things without a name. Vast are the stones which
sleep beneath coverlets of dank moss, and mighty were the walls from which they
fell. For all time did their builders erect them, and in sooth they yet serve
nobly, for beneath them the grey toad makes his habitation.

At the very bottom of the valley lies the river Than, whose waters are slimy
and filled with weeds. From hidden springs it rises, and to subterranean
grottoes it flows, so that the Demon of the Valley knows not why its waters are
red, nor whither they are bound.

The Genie that haunts the moonbeams spake to the Demon of the Valley, saying,
"I am old, and forget much. Tell me the deeds and aspect and name of them who
built these things of Stone." And the Demon replied, "I am Memory, and am wise
in lore of the past, but I too am old. These beings were like the waters of the
river Than, not to be understood. Their deeds I recall not, for they were but
of the moment. Their aspect I recall dimly, it was like to that of the little
apes in the trees. Their name I recall clearly, for it rhymed with that of the
river. These beings of yesterday were called Man."

So the Genie flew back to the thin horned moon, and the Demon looked intently
at a little ape in a tree that grew in a crumbling courtyard.

THE END