Pohjola

In a year you would not know
A plague had burned the world
It scourged every ocean cold
And condemned many a soul.
And as that monster searched the coasts
And knocked countries to their knees
A darkened shroud awaited the birth
For any wee knock-knees
And as one such lad had finally grown
So to had that bloody bane
And his mother bid him to the forest
And placed within his arms
something wrapped in shredded rags

As it festered through their lands
He hid himself below the ground
Then escaped to the barren shore
Where he felt his heart was torn
As it burned, where he was born.

His lonely solid silhouette stood atop a dune
And looked down upon the sands
And with his watered eyes he saw
Wrapped in the ripped rags
Her golden wedding band.

With his callous, weathered hands
He held it oh so lightly
And tucked it safe in his leather pouch
And threw his eyes to the south
He saw the smoke from his home
Rise above the hill
And the lonely man walked down the beach
Crying for his homeland
His tears falling to the sand.

He headed north, to the distant cold
The land his ancients ruled
He knifed away an unkempt beard
And his roamers’ heart had cooled.
And soon he found a town
Where long ships on land laid bare
And crafters worked, hammer in hand
To prepare for naval fare
And every night as he lay in bed
In his room above the inn
he held up his truly treasured thing:
Her golden wedding band.

After all those years aground
he felt his heart ignite
the sea bellowed out his name
and his yearning soul did ache
to enter upon those tempestuous waters
to sail the sea-gods realm
so he boarded up within a ship
with burly lads with oars
and went to many lands afar
from every shore to shore
but as fate had it
as chance was not so cruel
a blister down upon the sea
the bloody men of war
swinging axes, swords and rope
they came up in the dark
and sunk the ship the man had sailed
to solemn, craggy depths
and as he floated down the sea
a shining edge did glint
as his hand was pulled upward
a blade of old, with evil intent
plunged through his chest
and as he sank
into the blue
he heard a maidens voice
and awoke upon the shore,
feeling none the worse
and he saw a ghost
his mother and her smiling face
and on her hand he did see
her golden wedding band.

Anna G. (2012)