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"Put away your weapons and armor, for bloody Bedlam is dead."
Such was the vain boast from the grim Norse battlefield, colored red
"I have broken my ax in his skull, his berserk fury shall not be missed.
Curses unto Odin that such a beast on two legs was ever allowed to exist."
Giant and bold, vain and dire, no mere mortal could match Bedlam's blows
Berserk and brave, he attacked the foe first, till alas, from a war he never arose
As the smoke and cries of the dead drift away far off in this the hour of our defeat
The strong women line up the bloody dead and place them roughly at my feet
Faces locked in death's rigor, I attempt to record each and every frigid face
While the scavenger's pile up the broken weapons, every sword, shield, ax, or mace
Seven decades I have prayed to Thor and many of the dead have I put to pyre
Often would a body flinch, tremble, or move as the last of their spirit shuffled dire
But never once did a bloody corpse sit up to stare at me, a shard of metal in his head
Or laugh as Bedlam did behind burning eyes as he threw off the peaceful dead
Erik Bedlam stood erect, surging, shaking, the evening birthing his shadow to loom
I trembled as well, but full of fright, and thought I faced the dark moment of my doom
"I have bested Loki, fought my way out of Hel, climbing on the skulls of men...
Look not at me as a yearling fawn, for as the Christ-men say, I am born again."
"Again I stride this earth, though demons about me swirl, and goblins around me fly.
I shall stalk this accursed Earth for the wicked one who slew me, and he shall surely die."
But a lone Norse warrior dared go near to Erik, as the vile berserker walked away
A tall, lean man named Alanis, he was, and somehow befriended Bedlam that day
Woe be unto that man who wronged him—nay, scream, WOE for all you are worth!
Bedlam is alive, not dead, and he walks forth...Woe be unto all the Earth
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