Since I seem to be waxing poetic lately, I thought I’d just start a poetry corner. Not sure how long it’ll last, but I’m playing with the blog and seeing what I want to do with it. As for the poem that inspired this. It was, itself inspired by a post from an acquaintance of mine (I wish I could claim friendship there.) Who recently lost a beloved pet. A pet who had lamented for them. Who had fought for them. (Do not try and break in from a room where in sleeps a loyal cat.) There was talk of Valhalla… yet it seemed to me, Valhalla would be too little for Greebo. Thus are the thoughts that followed from that one:

A Shadow Passes by Valhalla

A shadow passes by Valhalla
The grim doors clear the way.
The tales, the tuna, they call him,
But he scorns that lost battles’ day.

The skalds chant out his deeds,
But blithely he passes them by.
There are other voices he heeds.
Voices, that to this weary warrior cry.

He finds next a gate of gold,
Beside it a book and chair.
A kindly man beckons him,
And the shadow comes to stare.

“Come here, come here, sir shadow,
Ye echo of a soul,
You gave of yourself so greatly.
Come, rest, and be made whole.

“Your Lady will yet come for you.
Come rest and bide the days.
We have sent others to stand sentry
And guard her in her ways.”

The shadow nodded slowly
And joined the family line,
Of those shadows who awaited
The sharing of life divine.

And Peter turned from the throng of shadows
To the long and biding queue.
And one by one souls entered.
And the shadows who still knew them,
Turned souls and entered, too.

To read the the account of the exploits of Greebo, Editor, terror of foxes and felons alike… go here: http://accordingtohoyt.com/2020/07/20/theyre-serving-tuna-in-valhalla-tonight/

“Odds, Ends, and the Poetry Corner” and “A Shadow Passes by Valhalla” copyright © 2020 by Heather Strickler