Beneath the pallid moon's sickly light,
In Carcosa's streets of yellow and blight,
The King in Yellow reigns supreme,
A phantom monarch of a twisted dream.
His crown is made of madness and despair,
His robes adorned with symbols rare,
That drive men mad and fill their hearts with fear,
For he is the lord of all that's strange and queer.
His court is filled with spectral shades,
And twisted beings that dance and sway,
To music that no mortal ear can hear,
For it's a sound that only madness can bear.
And lo, on his crown were four diadems,
And each representing a different realm,
Over which the King in Yellow held his helm.
And lo, the might came,
A Jester of worlds, who challenged the king of his throne with gall.
The King in Yellow turned to face the Jester bold,
His eyes ablaze with a madness untold,
And with a wave of his hand, he summoned forth,
A host of horrors to prove his worth.
But the Jester merely laughed and spun a tale,
Of heroes and villains, of love and betrayal,
And with each word, the King's power waned,
As the Jester's imagination reigned.
The courtiers watched in awe and fear,
As the Jester's words drew near,
To the heart of the King's power and might,
And threatened to dethrone him that night.
But with a final burst of power and rage,
The King in Yellow released his darkest page,
And as the Jester fell into madness's grip,
The King proclaimed his reign would never slip.
And so the flesh shifted,
It contorted, screamed, and molded,
until the Author showed what he himself had folded.
The Author revealed the truth of the matter,
And with a flick of his pen, shattered the King's splendor,
For Carcosa was merely a figment of his mind,
And the King in Yellow, a character he'd designed.
The flesh that had contorted and screamed,
Was nothing but ink and paper, or so it seemed,
And with a final stroke of creation,
The Author banished the King to oblivion.
But in the hearts of those who had been ensnared,
By the King's madness, his voice still flared,
And though he was gone, his legacy remained,
A warning of the dangers of a mind unchained.
And so the Author's tale ended,
With the King in Yellow's reign suspended,
And though Carcosa had been but a dream,
Its memory would forever haunt the Author's theme.
All in the name of Eden.
Supreme Author Played By: Themselves
The Jester Played By: The Supreme Author
Written By: The One True Editor
Editor: SCP-3143, A 1937 Olympia Elite Type-Writer
Supervisor: SCP-40-JP, SCP-3143
Original Writer of King in Yellow: Robert W. Chambers
With Special Thanks to the Chinese Community of the SCP Foundation.
With Apologies to My Co-Workers For Enslaving Them.