Wednesday’s Verse—Living by the Troll Marsh

This week’s verse moves from one fantasy staple to another. It is taken from Another 365 Days of Poetry, a collection of mixed-genre poetry to be released later in the year, once both collection and cover are complete.

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Living by the Troll Marsh

I lived beside the troll marsh

where the long-lived hrudda call

where the moorhens cackle nightly

where with silence danger falls.

I lived beside the troll marsh

and learnt each inch of those foul fens

and I grew to hunt the monsters

that within it made their dens.

I lived beside the troll marsh

and on its shores I fought

the foul, the bestial, and ugly

from tiny troll to juggernaut

and I grew older near the troll marsh

and my reflexes they slowed

until another walked the shoreline

and took my duty’s load

I argued that the troll marsh

was no place to raise a child

and she laughed and called her youngling

and my doubts I reconciled

for too long had the troll marsh

without a dragon been

but now I’d met a hunter

who raised a dragon queen

who would give her child the troll marsh

as a heritage to prize

for no-one better keeps their homeland

than those a dragon sires

And I stayed there near the troll marsh

my heart too full to hold

the joy of such strong company

as with day’s twilight, I grew old.

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You can find the first two poetry collections at the links below - although there are plans to reissue them with more genre-appropriate covers in the future. The third collection will be released later in the year.

books2read.com/u/mVLQZb

books2read.com/u/bxgyLd