Atty Awards "2012" Poem Collection

Ode: "Children of Odin"

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1

The dragons head peeked through the foggy air

And rests its heavy load upon the shore 

Eying the beach front with immoral stare 

Waiting for the arrival of one more 

It soon appears, the mighty dragon beast 

And with its brother stares at the village 

The Viking hoard disembark silently 

Time to make the local folk deceased 

The time has come to plunder and pillage 

Its time for them to die violently

2 

Upon thy sandy shores their footprints snake 

And rallied cries reach out to fill the air 

Church bells warn all the dreaming souls to wake 

To join each other in living nightmare 

The elderly are trapped, they can't escape 

And beg their loved ones to run from the dawn 

Old folk burn in homes that have been looted 

Their sons doth face the axe and daughters rape 

Running for their lives across crops of corn 

Those caught, their screams be forever muted 

3 

Their prizes are uploaded to their boats 

And oars are lowered down into the sea 

The dying locals hold their hearts and throats 

Soon to leave behind their misery 

The dragons leave as quickly as they came 

Singing praises to their Norse god Odin 

Whilst crossing the North Sea on way back home 

For these warriors it's just a war game 

And nothing really matters lest they win 

A thousand years across the sea they roam 

4 

A long time these warriors ruled the seas 

Were more advanced than one had first of thought 

They learned how to harvest the wind and breeze 

Weaver made sails allowed wind through when taut 

So as the wind buffeted the ship about 

The sails they stretched to match to moving wind 

That in part made their ships the fastest seen 

And overlapping wood so strong and stout 

Forced air beneath the ship when faced downwind 

Lifting it up to skim but not careen

5 

Their armour too was way ahead its time 

Despite the fact they looked a bloody mess 

Ignore their filthy looks in all that grime 

And be in wonder at their battle dress 

They wore the thickest fur that they could find 

And over that they wore a mail of chain 

Their enemies think that they'd be weighed down 

But that would always just be in their mind 

And soon they would be lying bloodied and slain 

In blood and urine they would surely drown 

6 

No sword could penetrate the Viking skin 

The thick hide and the mail upon their backs 

Their bodies were untouchable within 

The enemy would then drop from the axe 

And shields of wood were lighter than their foes 

Painted patterns of all colours of day 

That hid grains flow making so hard to break 

Easy enough to fend off all the blows 

Keeping the fatal injuries at bay 

Winning battles as easy as eating cake 

7 

So remember this before you babble 

And say the Vikings were barbarians 

An unruly mob and dirty rabble 

Just a bunch of mindless sectarians 

They were innovators of the future 

Left a thousand year legacy behind 

Were master and commander of the sea 

There were more to them than being butchers 

And the fiercest fighters of all mankind 

Horns blew and settled them to history 

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© PJ Perry 2012