The Ravens of Valhalla

O’er desolate shores wept the fate of immortal flames

And into a Winter sun I bleed my dreams,

as a thousand years of love & war dressed the sky

Long-ships sailed to the otherworld upon Odin’s breath

Betwixt night and day I wandered, shimmering, peering

Till my chalice of Dragons blood flowed but no more

I became a warrior lost in the stars, drifting, ever falling,

Until the shadows entombed my soul in Raven-lore

 

Lo the tempest eerie; ‘magick entwining spirit and flesh

Upon snow I awoke dreary, beneath winged-silhouettes

‘Couldst be, my Princess adored; last of the Valkyrie!

I recall myriad of black feathers in leisured-dance,

And our love soared ravenous unto darkness befallen

From the frosts of creation I wrought gloom and desire,

Bore the tongue of fevered winds thru oceans of time

Here thy whispers feasting, I linger, clad in mists of fire

 

O’ we have lived, in the arms of shadow and vapors

We have sung, in fields of nightmares and dreams

And we have loved, in the twilight of Freyja

 

Behold! The Norse winds howl our passion seeking

Let a kiss undress the Night of our souls, I implore!

Dark ash slides in Raven-song across Sun and Moon,

Amethyst blood streaking thru snow, gleaming fiercely

The ether of worlds fabled besiege my blood flow

All hallowed is the Raven! ‘Spellbound o’er gothic skies

Lo the rapture of gossamer wings, ‘velvet shades covet

Ballets, darkly and wanton till the morrow cries

 

At thy soft-ghostly figure seraphic, hungry and dripping

caught my breath pondering in Acheronian lore

Echoes of funeral pyre caress cloud & mountain peaks

Thine gaze cast upon me sinking deep to the core

Plumes of sweet obsidian encircle, waiting, dreaming

‘Enchanted,’ Said she, with silver gleam in her eye

Unto the great halls of Valhalla we shall make haste,

Jeweled in eternity ‘where the brave never die

 

 

 

              Arthur Crow © 2022