Tuesday Poem: The Womanrobber

You are a man out of the north,

a Norseman of the storms.

Ancient scars score your contoured body

and your swords weigh heavily like islands in the sea

I have transfixed you by the hair

under a great stone

so that I can look you over,

so that I can walk around you,

with the sun, and against the sun,

even as you struggle to and fro,

even as your howling

causes the sun to set.

In the long and star-bright night

I scrutinise you, handsome Viking.

Your eyelids have firmly shut

like the gates of a citadel.

In which rune-script

do I read your dreams?

Half man, half wolf

my captive.

-Kristiina Ehin is one of Estonia’s leading poets. She presents a four-day masterclass workshop in poetry during the Cork International Short Story Festival (Sept 16-20).

Cork short story website