Dark Legend: when the Hodag Walks

From the frozen black shadows of the past,
Where night reigns forever in caverns vast,
Dark legendary creatures lurk and hide,
Raging at wintry blasts, nostrils, flared and wide.
One especially watches, eyes aglow
A fearsome legend in this land of snow.
Oh, yes, they say he's a hoax, and they laugh,
But not when they walk on some lonely tract,
Air so cold the trees snap, an icy fear leaps on their back.
For something is walking heavy behind,
With a nose that snuffles and teeth that grind.
Shouting, "HODAG!" they stumble into town as if blind.
It's said some never come back alive; and others, they never find.

Hodag, Hodag, monster of night
Don't come near me, you frightening sight!
Go your way, stop not in your flight,
Let me die alone, in the silvery twilight.