Sigurd's Dream
A Poem
The dead greeted me in the early morning
with their delicate songs of Valhalla, as the wind
awoke me from my blinding dreams of paradise.
White bats swung upside down from broken limbs,
while black doves floated on bobbing heads
down the rippling brook beside my sword's bed.
Faceless women in black robes stroked
hopeless men from their hair in droves.
Bloody hooves stomped victory throughout the landscape.
Am I dead?
The answer to that question arrived swiftly
on the serrated spines of ancient cryptids -
whose eyes were mirrors - reflecting my image
just as the Gods predicted.
About the Creator
Kale Bova
Author | Poet | Dog Dad | Nerd
Find my published poetry, and short story books here!
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Reader insights
Outstanding
Excellent work. Looking forward to reading more!
Top insights
Compelling and original writing
Creative use of language & vocab
Easy to read and follow
Well-structured & engaging content
Excellent storytelling
Original narrative & well developed characters
Eye opening
Niche topic & fresh perspectives
Heartfelt and relatable
The story invoked strong personal emotions
Masterful proofreading
Zero grammar & spelling mistakes
Silence
I don’t remember the day the world ended. But I do remember the day I noticed. That photo was it, but I did not know what it meant until I sat in my darkened bathroom, staring at the newly developed film. The street was neither empty, nor abandoned. It was dead. The colours of the flowers wrapped in that red ribbon caught my eye, and as I crouched to take that photo, I could hear only the lonely silence of a graveyard after dark.
By Alexander McEvoy6 days ago in Fiction
Comments (13)
Congratulations on Top Story.
Horrific whilst not being gory. So simple to switch the bats' and the doves' colours to create such a vivid image of wrongness. Made me feel uneasy.
This was awesome! I have this romantic and sorrowful relationship with Viking history; their lives were so full of debauchery and loyalty to the end. Congratulations on Top Story
Good lord, that was so evocative.
Congrats on Top Story!🥳🥳🥳
You are mixing mythologies, but I like it.
well.... that was awesome! Dang.
Kale, this is a brilliant take on that existential question about what death is. And congrats on Top Story! It's well deserved.
Wow! Kale! This was so good. I thought your stories were great but this is absolutely superb.
Your use of rhyme and alliteration makes for such a good reading experienced! This was a really intriguing character voice!
oooo dark and gritty, I loved it
Holy cow! The descriptions are fabulous!
Vivid! This is badass