2,754 words (11–14 minutes)
Genre(s): Dreamlike Fantasy, Tragic Myth
Written in 1921, first published in Galleon, July 1935

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A golden-haired wanderer, Iranon, searches endlessly for his lost homeland—a city of beauty, music, and memory called Aira. Singing of forgotten splendor, he roams through somber cities, joyous revels, and desolate lands, clinging to a vision of his birthright. But in a world where toil eclipses art and dreams fade to dust, Iranon’s quest carries him ever farther from the wonders he remembers—or imagines. The Quest of Iranon is a bittersweet fable blending cosmic melancholy with the fragile beauty of artistic longing, as Lovecraft meditates on the cost of clinging to dreams in a world that refuses to believe in them.