A Far Green Country
How often have I dreamed of such a place? How often have I seen those emerald fields, And in that dream, forgotten that I dreamed, That I would wake, had woken, and my life Dissolved into a peaceful deja vu That cannot be remembered? I can...
Ragnarok - Epilogue
So ends the tale of Shane the Champion. Of his blood-brother, Varr the Last-to-Flee. Of Klau the Berserker, called the Blacksword. Of the Old Man, who some hold was a god. Of the lost Witchfolk, and their young Lady Who solely of her people is not...
Ragnarok - XXVII
Somewhere it was autumn. On the shore Wind-kissed and smelling of soft salt there stood But three alone. The sighing pines atop The dunes were the last trees to wear their leaves. Somewhere it was evening. Heavy clouds Were crimson painted...
Ragnarok - XXVI
The Sulfur Carrier had dug its claws Into the cliff face, on either side of The shallow crevice where the Old Man stood At bay. The rock walls were collapsing in. When he had thrust his spear into the breach To wedge it open, it had buckled and...
Ragnarok - XXV
Darkness, and the stench of rotten eggs To make his eyes water. If he had held His hand before his face, Shane could have seen No glove, no fist, no color or outline. He did not bother to. He blinked the sting Out of his eyes, and strained toward...
Ragnarok - XXIV
It grinned. It ripped a fist of mangling claws Down like a meteor. It gouged the stairs, Where Varr and the Old Man had stood away As could a spoon through cold whipped butter-cream, But they had ducked, had rolled under its palm As it passed just...
Ragnarok - XXIII
Somewhere, amongst the ruins of ruins The legions of dishonored dead, hissing As might an immolated corpse upon A burning ship, at cold saltwater's touch, With agonizing slowness flung themselves Against the hated company who held, Though...
Ragnarok - XXII
Shane found the Old Man waiting underneath A spreading and a skeletal ash tree. And he was not alone. Beside him stood The Lady, with her ineffable smile, The Old Woman, frowning upon her cane, The Witchfolk King, rolling brown oak leaf...
Ragnarok - XXI
The man turned round and smiled. As when the blobs Of seeming random ink click suddenly Into an image unmistakable Of a familiar human face without The slightest alteration in themselves, But only in the one who stares, and stares, And stares,...
Ragnarok - XX
"Man's voices have been silent for too long. His songs are gone long unsung. Man has been Long disenchanted in this latter age. What songs are sung in triumph, and what hymn Is raised to god or gods above the stars? How often is there heard the...
Ghost of the Western Cretaceous Sea
You look around you and you see the peaks. You see the pine heights and the softer trees That flower on the lower, lesser steeps. You see the little rivers, shire-wise, That gently carve the foothills. And the sweep At last of desert floor....
Ragnarok - XIX
Somewhere, it was winter. Stars were lost Above the mottled, slate-hard clouds. The streets Were glazed with colorless lamplight. The air Was weary cold, and smelled of apathy. Somewhere it was January, or Some time that felt like it. Beside the...