Introduction to The Lone and Level Sands Stretch Far Away
We met two travelers to an antique land. Across the haunted stars they came in search-- While newly mated, newly hand in hand-- Of shattered remnant visage in the dirt. The one has eyes on knowledge and renown And seeks the truth whatever it may...
I Switch Off All The Lights
I switch off all the lights. Those that I love Are all abed, both in the other room And all across the city that I love. I see my way across the meagre room And to the too-tall curtains by the light Of thrift-store stained-glass lamp, by oven...
Eight Minutes and Forty Six Seconds on June Twelfth, Two Thousand Twenty
The rain continues. No thunder dares ring. No winds howl. All is silence, save the sound Of distant trucks down on the interstate. I tell myself, pretend it is the sea That all this rain, perhaps, will wash into. And I remain in silence. What must...
Ragnarok - VII
"I died not," Varr breathed shallowly, "I woke Midmorning, by a gentle brook. How far I'd skirmished from satanic swamplands I Had no surmise. Three days I nursed my wounds, And then I took the mission meant for Luke, To warn the Old Man. As I...
Ragnarok - VI
"In coolness of that evening we stood guard Atop the knoll our mastery had turned To barrow. As the hidden sun went down We watched the pit as does a mongoose, for The snout of the great serpent to appear. While there we watched we argued: How to...
Ragnarok - V
"Before the sun had crossed the pinnacle Of hours upon the sky's superior side And any nightward momentum had gained, The hall was emptying. The Old Man's words Reverberated still between hard stone Reproachful more the longer that we stayed. Our...
Ragnarok - IV
The day was long departed, and the night Was coming to adulthood. Outside slept The night breeze, snoring soft among the grass. Inside, the boxer felt the darkness close As if it were a change in temperature He had not noticed. "Hold on," he spoke...
Ragnarok - III
"These ruins have been empty for too long. They ring no more with scarlet laughing flags. They echo not the peal of sparring arms, Nor cries of joyful brotherhood of war. They were not always silent. Once they shone Undusty, undecrepit,...
Ragnarok - II
The sun was gone. The only light that shone Was a reflection off the fading sky, Yet faded not the gold out of the roof, For, at the touch of darkness, fireflies, Lit crisp like Christmas candles, Appeared and turned the leaves to paper...
Ragnarok - I
Somewhere it was autumn, and the trees Hung undecided, torn between the fear Of concrete skies and black obsidian nights And clung to fading leaves, yet still they felt A dark desire to let the summer drop, To scatter to the wind their...
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...