bloodteethandflame

Edited to add: Please note that this poem was not written by me; it was written by the extremely talented sc-fi fantasy author, Cat Valente.  

I had the pleasure of hearing Cat read this poem aloud at a sci-fi fantasy convention quite some time ago.

I’ve always loved this poem, and I thought it perhaps fitting to share with my readers today, as I found it again recently, saved within some of my old LiveJournal files from 2010.

This poem immediately struck me as appropriate in honor of one of Loki’s heiti, Father/Mother of Monsters ❤

~~~~

If you are a monster, stand up.
If you are a monster, a trickster, a fiend,
If you’ve built a steam-powered wishing machine
If you have a secret, a dark past, a scheme,
If you kidnap maidens or dabble in dreams
Come stand by me.

If you have been broken, stand up.
If you have been broken, abandoned, alone
If you have been starving, a creature of bone
If you live in a tower, a dungeon, a throne
If you weep for wanting, to be held, to be known,
Come stand by me.

If you are a savage, stand up.
If you are a witch, a dark queen, a black knight,
If you are a mummer, a pixie, a sprite,
If you are a pirate, a tomcat, a wright,
If you swear by the moon and you fight the hard fight,
Come stand by me.

If you are a devil, stand up.
If you are a villain, a madman, a beast,
If you are a strowler, prowler, a priest,
If you are a dragon come sit at our feast,
For we all have stripes, and we all have horns,
We all have scales, tails, manes, claws and thorns
And here in the dark is where new worlds are born.
Come stand by me.

A poem by Cat Valente

11 October 2010