BARBARIAN

BARBARIAN, by Wade German:

A smoke-laced sky is banner to our mirth
And sends our god red incense to inhale:
The sickly reek of sweat and blood-drenched earth
From savage tides of slaughter — spilled entrails,
Grim waves of flesh and feces, broken bone —
And clouds of flies, aswarm on butchered meat,
Are raising paean in demonic drone —
The voice of legion spawning in defeat.

Black vultures circle on their blade-like wings
As we collect our trophies from the dead
And stack colossal cairns of severed heads
Of which tonight our battlescribes will sing —
And valor, victory, triumphant death,
The charnel breeze that is our old god’s breath.
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Wade German’s poems have appeared internationally in numerous journals and anthologies. His poetry has been nominated for the Pushcart and Rhysling awards, and has received honorable mentions in Ellen Datlow’s Best Horror of the Year (Volumes II & III). Some of his latest work can be found in recent or upcoming issues of Dreams and Nightmares, Nameless, Paper Crow, Space and Time, and Weird Fiction Review. His longest poem to date, “The Necromantic Wine,” can be found in Avatars of Wizardry (P’rea Press).