Ragnarok - XVIII
As does a man who from an areoplane Leaps for heart-stopping sport hang for the half, Half-second that his heart is stopped, and sees The world spread out below, amid the clouds, And wheeling slowly, like the stars at night, Until gravity finds...
Ragnarok - XVII
Said Varr, voice hollow like a man bereaved And echoing around the council hall, "Never before have I turned tail. What has Become of Last to Flee? If such as I, By death made undying, by corruption Made incorruptible in who we are, Already have...
Ragnarok - XVI
"Mean you to slay this?" Varr said slowly, as The Sulfur Carrier stretched, its knees below The pit its impact had carved out, "Do you Yet say that this your sword shall cut down this Colossus, berserker?" Klau swallowed, and, With his eyes to...
Ragnarok - XV
As haloed patriarchs, hewn from the stone Atop the arches, mid the cornices Where gargoyles grimace at the bitter taste Of dusty rainwater, watch heretics Self-excommunicated all depart, Stoic, still militant, and stony-faced Shed not one tear,...
Ragnarok - XIV
Varr broke the silence first. "You saw him, then. Our lord is yet alive. I had not dared To think the question, lest I should answer. But the Old Man lives yet. So lives our strength." Shane muttered quietly "Not he alone." And when they looked at...
Ragnarok - XIII
Where once the yearly snowmelt flood had carved A narrow serpentine defile, that poured Itself onto the plains until there was No more snow left to melt, now were there walls And roof, rough hewn and roughly thrown into A rude, windowless,...
Ragnarok - XII
Somewhere it was sunset. On the hills The last refractions of the scarlet sun Licked at the upper edges, like a flame About to catch on paper, but below All now was more than darkness, as the bars Crossed cruciform around a lantern wick Grow...
Waymaker
_"Thank you, my friend, for coming."_ _"He is safe? He found his way to you without being hurt?"_ _"He is unhurt. It is a dangerous world to walk in but he came to no harm."_ _"Good. He's already known too much suffering."_ _"What is 'too much?'...
Ragnarok - XI
Somewhere it was after midnight, when The long hours of the morning stretch ahead Sideways, so that they wider grow and can Contain more night and not take up more time. Somewhere a boxer wandered in his dreams Down streets abandoned, over bridges...
Ragnarok - X
Like a gazebo in an empty park-- Where silent is the playground, where the paths No longer feel the tread of shoes or hear The jangle of the collar and the leash, Where wild and weedy tend the lawns, and trees Grow forestlike and rough--where once...
Ragnarok - IX
Somewhere dusk was settling. The air Was stirring gently as one sleep deprived Whose body yearns so much to dream that it Rebels, and tries to slumber standing up Whenever and wherever mind and will Relax their vigilance. It moved the grass Upon...
Ragnarok - VIII
The dawn above the east was solid light From edge to edge. If all the sky were one Piece of soft paper, dipped into a cup Of melted luminescence, that light crept Up it by capillary tug, spread out Neon infection through the fiber sheet, Just so...