iron earth so cold
sugar-touched rusted bracken
frosted grass splinters
reel towards the sun once more
draw light into darkened vales
foreshadowed healing
sacred flesh, innocent blood
divinity’s touch
belief and faith glow prayer-like
candle flame searing the night
grey stone archway frames
arrow-like finger of light
piercing this dark heart
© Freya Pickard 2020
Freya Pickard is the Author of The Kaerling series, an epic fantasy set in the world of Nirunen. She writes mainly fantasy tales, with some poetry thrown in. She has published 14 e-books and 6 paperbacks and finds her inspiration in the ocean, beautifully written books and vinyl music. She blogs at https://dragonscaleclippings.wordpress.com and https://purehaiku.wordpress.com
It’s a joy to have Freya here. She curates beautiful collections of haiku on a regular basis – worth looking out for. If you enjoyed this tanka-haiku-reverse tanka you might like to check out her latest fantasy novel:
The Day of Weird – volumes one to three of The Kaerling
Pursued by villagers for angering the gods, Otta seeks to evade capture whilst following the Unicorn’s Trail.
“This is the gritty version of what a Western setting of Avatar the Last Airbender would look like.” X Mankum
Otta must deal with the dark side of her character and the memory loss of her twin, as the influence of the foreign ambassadors, the kaerlings, becomes more pronounced. The god’s commands must be obeyed and Otta finds herself on the southern plains before the true meaning of the Unicorn’s Trail is revealed. The Day of Weird is a paperback containing the first three volumes of The Kaerling which are also available as separate e-books: Silver Fire, Ambassador and An Ancient Song.
Purchase link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Day-Weird-Kaerling-Volumes-Three/dp/1701251124/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=freya+pickard&qid=1579688474&sr=8-2