POETRY BY ENGILBERT EGILL STEFANSSON

Engilbert Egill Stefánsson is a poet and short story writer from Iceland, where he lives with his wife and their two daughters.

His work has been published in Sirens Call Publications, The Horror Zine, Black Hare Press, Macabre Minima, and Raven Quoth Press.

He is the author of the poetry chapbook Broken, published with the 19th Edition Press.

MADE FOR THE LIGHT

The cold from the north has arrived
I can feel it biting my bones from the inside
Seek shelter, my dear
those who do not are left to wander.
Unfortunate souls going nowhere, seeing nothing through their glacial eyes

I live in the dark, I do not thrive here
I waste away here
Each morning as I open my eyes all I see are shadows, both present and past
In this darkness, my fate is molded in cement
We were built for the light, it is there our souls flourish
In the light we can look forward and cast our shadows behind us.

TOME

I stole the tome from my master’s study
That green flicker in his eyes frightens me

An iron smell comes from his room at night, blood I know
Yet, not a stain visible on his person
Smell the crimson fluid and magic so sweet, he mumbles in his sleep
A voice not his own
Strange things and stranger creatures I hear from the walls at night
Ever since my master found that tome

Underneath a golden tile inside the church on the hill is where it was
We never suspected the terror that tome would cause

HOPE IS ETERNAL

Where do we stand in a world where they say kindness is dead?
How do we survive in a world where one wrong word can cost you your head?

We can hope
We can dream
Or
We can cope
We can scream
In this world, every shortcut leads to a longer road
We still have a choice, lie down and pay them what they believe they are owed…
Or we can hope and dream
Never again shall we cope and scream
We shall fight this corruption infernal
For hope is eternal.

NINE

Today marks nine.
Nine years without your smile
Nine years without your contagious laughter
Nine years ago, the world got colder
I would have embraced you longer had I known
There would never be an after.

My loving mother
A soul so sweet
Without you, my heart was left incomplete
We hold your memory dear, never forgotten
I love you forever and always, through and through
No matter how many years come to pass
I will never stop missing you