Untold by the Runes
by Kate Hill

The afterlife is newly found
as I lay on the battleground.
Through the fog rise Asgard's walls.
Frolic sounds from Valhalla's halls.
Surely soon I'll join the feast
with Beowulf and the Grendel beast.
My soul soars, though my body's dead;
I see THEM flying overhead
with jewel blue eyes and golden hair
and chain mail that leaves one breast bare.
With gleaming swords and supple arms,
they tease me with feminine charms.
Closer, they come, lovelier still
Wait . . . a trick!  Loki's will!
Their teeth are sharp and tinted red.
Gods, they're crunching on the dead!
With bloody claws one grasps my throat;
together we begin to float.
Living men dream of immortality;
only the dead suffer the Valkyrie

Kate Hill's fiction and poetry have appeared in several small press and online publications, including A Taste of Midnight (Circlet Press), Dreams of Decadence, Darkness Within, Decompositions, The Vampire's Crypt and Speculon. Her vampire and historical romance novels are available from RFI West. Kate publishes chapbooks and zines through her own micro press, Anxiety Publications. Click Kate Hill to visit her home page.