Pirates and pagans claw up from peat mire,
a pox on great Pax, bearing ax and red fire.
Battle-hard, bear-oiled, the bastards are drenched,
bright blood still sopping, sweet gifts for gilt Frīgg.
Sage Woden, also—star-backed silhouettes,
feet dangle from branches—requirement met.
Elm and green ash tree now prowl the world tall,
waging war as the wolves, stalking wreckage like Sköll.
Soot-smeared they sail to soil-blanketed giants—
Albion’s hills offer little defiance.
true
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Haley Byrd Wilt
Haley Byrd Wilt is a writer, editor, and journalist based in the D.C. area.
Her work has been published in Christianity Today, Foreign Policy, the New York Times, NOTUS, and CNN, among others. Her fiction has appeared in Analog Science Fiction & Fact.
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