Queen Berngerd, the Bard and the Dreams, and Other Ballads

These are not modern poems but something older in spirit - ballads that feel as though they were passed down through generations by firelight, their rhythms designed for voice and memory. The collection opens with Queen Berngerd, a figure consumed by ambition and the hunger for power, whose tragic end becomes a meditation on pride and fate's indifference to mortal desire. Other tales follow: Dame Martha, whose quiet generosity echoes across lives, and King Oluf, whose steadfast faith carries him through trial. These are stories of longing and loss, of love that endures and desires that destroy, of the ancient forces that shape human lives. Each ballad is a compact narrative, a entire life distilled into verse that carries the weight of archetype. There is blood here, and sorrow, and occasional grace. For readers drawn to the folk tradition, to narrative verse that speaks with a voice older than print, these ballads offer something increasingly rare: the pleasure of a story told in the oldest way, meant to be heard.