Sunday, December 31, 2017

20171231.0430

The Scald’s leader drew up a plan
Based on what they’d learned from the man
Whom they had thus killed,
Whose life they had spilled
Whose blood still from the body ran.

Saturday, December 30, 2017

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Some words that he said, he thought true,
For of recent deaths he naught knew,
But aside from those,
Into frantic prose
He spoke no more than breezes blew.

Friday, December 29, 2017

20171229.0430

Yet not all the untruths then said
Were spoken by who kept a head;
The scavenger lied
To them ere he died,
Speaking false in the face of his dread.

Thursday, December 28, 2017

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It should not be a surprise
To learn that the hopes were all lies.
They could not afford
To be found, and a sword
Split the scavenger, navel to eyes.

Wednesday, December 27, 2017

20171227.0430

The scavenger soon revealed all
That of the town he could recall
And said things beside
To preserve his hide,
Knowing his hope was quite small.

Tuesday, December 26, 2017

20171226.0430

Then forth the Scald’s leader did stand,
And all did obey the command
That torture begin
To help the Scald win--
And soon came things worse than the brand.

Monday, December 25, 2017

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Him, they took back to their camp
And quickly did him with flame stamp,
Seared skin on his face
To assert his new place
And secured him in a tight clamp.

Sunday, December 24, 2017

20171224.0430

The scouts of the Scald were not kind
When they interlopers would find
As they showed on that day
When they took away
The scavenger to search his mind.

Saturday, December 23, 2017

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The scouts the Scald sent out took note
Of the sounds that came from the man’s throat
As he ran amid trees;
They brought him to his knees
And sharply him on the head smote.

Friday, December 22, 2017

20171222.0430

That he was of fine sort, none aver.
In fact, he was worse than a cur.
He ran away, rather
Than stopping to gather
The body to take home and inter.

Thursday, December 21, 2017

20171221.0430

He was not alone in the wood,
Although that may not have been good.
A scavenger found
Him dead upon the ground.
That one did not do what he should.

Wednesday, December 20, 2017

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For whether from old wounds or age,
He suffered from pain soon assuaged,
For he took a fall,
And death did him call
In quiet happenstance, not in rage.

Tuesday, December 19, 2017

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He thought to return on the track
He had followed to foil the wrack
That swiftly came on,
And he was soon gone,
But he never did make it back.

Monday, December 18, 2017

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For Oðoæster it was
Who scouted the scouts out. Because
Of his chosen home
He had quite fond grown;
He’d fight well again in its cause.

Sunday, December 17, 2017

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Their numbers and disport he spied
And better than their scouts did hide.
He saw that the town
Would soon be brought down
Did he not in his student confide.

Saturday, December 16, 2017

20171216.0430

Coming back around, then...

Further, he pursued the trail,
Finding his way without fail,
Viewed then the horde
That too swiftly came toward
The town o’er which they’d fain prevail.

Friday, December 15, 2017

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I have seen him playing dirty
In his youth; I've seen him flirty
With no few. But now he's thirty,
And who knew that he would do so well?

Those who still remember
The generation-gone December
Knew then, and fanned his ember;
We knew he'd do damned well.

Happy birthday, little brother!

Thursday, December 14, 2017

20171214.0430

One scout to camp never came,
And the old man was to blame;
A thrust of a knife
Had ended his life.
Others before fared the same.

Tuesday, December 12, 2017

20171213.0430

The scouts that for the Scald spied
Bothered not back-trails to hide,
And so the old man
To trail them began--
And darkly he smiled inside.

20171212.0430

Yet one old man in town them espied,
Noticed that they sought to hide,
And took him concern.
He made then to learn
Of them that had the town descried.

Monday, December 11, 2017

20171211.0430

When the scouts ranged out ahead,
They saw naught that would cause them dread.
The small, quiet place
Showed no froward face--
Yet to its doom it the Scald led.

Sunday, December 10, 2017

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The tactic is said to be wise,
As scouting can find a surprise
That might lie in wait,
A trap laid with bait,
Such that whoso touches it dies.

Saturday, December 9, 2017

20171209.0430

But that leader did not appear
When the Scald would first draw near.
The Scald would, instead,
Send scouts out ahead
And find what the folk found most dear.

Friday, December 8, 2017

20171208.0430

The rumors made a great deal, too,
Of the fact that no one knew
Who ruled o'er the Scald,
What that one was called,
Or what could be said that was true.

Thursday, December 7, 2017

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Rumors did range far and wide
About the truth they seemed to hide.
Most would make mention--
A point of attention--
Of the unnamed Scald leader’s great pride.

Wednesday, December 6, 2017

20171206.0430

The Scald had come from far away;
The travel of many a day
Bore them from their home.
Why they would roam,
However, not many could say.

Tuesday, December 5, 2017

20171205.0430

They thought they would do much the same
When to that one village they came
Where Erdewyn dwelt,
And Oðoæster felt
He could retire without blame.

Monday, December 4, 2017

20171204.0430

Long had they raged ‘cross the land,
And when someone would make a stand,
That one, they’d burn,
And others would turn
All they had to the Scald’s hand.

Sunday, December 3, 2017

20171203.0430

Then would she rise once again,
And against all comers, she’d stand,
And if they were less
Who’d Erdewyn test,
Still great was the strength of her hand.

Saturday, December 2, 2017

201701202.0430

Yet still was she called on to fight
From time to time, as needed right.
Every so often,
It would be forgotten
How she would put all foes to flight.

Friday, December 1, 2017

20171201.0430

She sufficed to all of her tasks.
Of any, what more can be asked?
There are few among
Us of whom it’s sung
We meet that mark or it surpass.