13thWR

VALKYRIE SONG

No plumed warriors this century,
no muscled corpses gleaming,
armored, splayed on the fields
i once roamed, swooping down
cloaked in raven boas, hungry
for valiant blood. Army flesh
is bitter these days, quick to decay,
nobody dreams of flying
with me to Valhalla. I'm taking
desperate measures, taking
them live. I'm coming

for you, thick-fingered
statesmen sugary as hams,
corn-fed newscasters fresh
in your cellophane -- you keep
for weeks. Oil magnates glazed
with cognac, beer-battered
fraternities, buttery priests,
you'll never see me hovering,
soft as a moth, fluttering
fringed wings, clicking
my sets of teeth.

- Cynthia Belmont