Cauldron Anthology Issue 3: Year 1 Collection Cauldron Anthology Year One Issue FINAL 1.17.18 | Page 66

curse of the valkyrie
Linda M. Crate
i choose for you to live,
but a life of fear
in the shadows and every
corner of misery
you’ve etched for others
every nightmare
will consume you until you are
no more;
and no one will hear your cries
for help or mercy—
you can have meals
with the other monsters gnawing
on bones and imitations of light,
but you will never find anything that
heals you;
i promise that vengeance will be
taken for me by the anger of the moon and stars
i am the daughter of the moon
with claws and wings
they call me valkyrie
life and death are held in my palms
i give you life but a cursed one
for everything you broke in me that you
promised that you wouldn’t—
you may have broken my rose tinted glasses,
but you didn’t choose me
in this battle between nightmares and dreams
the light shall be the one that strangles
life from your bones and renders you into the
hand of the underworld.