The book ANTINOMY by Spider Robinson is available from Amazon starting at $2.50.

laceyvail, thanks, though I'm hoping someone has a copy of the poem since I don't really need or want the whole book. I will get it, though, if I can't find the poem elsewhere.

sheriz6, I looked in my old SF collection and there it was! I love a lot of his stuff but this is pretty grim. You got the chorus right!
Robin
Valkyrie Ride
The clouds are black and heavy as they lie upon the earth
And the wind is howling madly at the moment of my birth
And the sky is split with lightening as I draw a trembling breath
And my mother realizes that her son was born for death
(chorus)
I grow to bloody manhood and my name is called The Grim
And I steal for my amusement and I murder on a whim
And the women fright their children with the stories that they tell
Of the many sorry warriors my sword has sent to hell

I lead a band of hillmen now, I lead them with my blade
And we rape and kill and pillage as we ply our bloody trade
And they say I am a demon, yes, and tremble all the while
And they say no man alive or dead has ever seen me smile
(chorus)
Six hundred sons of Loki now are ready to my side
And a multitude have faced us and and a multitude have died
We have sacked the Seven Cities and the villages between
And I slay the king and court and to my men I give the queen

And the Sorcerers conspire and against me set their hand
But I pray to Father Loki and I slay them to a man
Then my journey to my weirding place is finally begun
As I lead six hundred killers to the City of the Sun

And they send a host against me and we meet upon a plain
And the world will never see such awful slaughtering again
For they came with but a single thought: that even as they fell
An attacker of their city would preceed them into hell
(chorus)
And I fight with savage fury and before me none can stand
And a score of mighty warriors have died before my hand
When I see beyond the battle, flying high above the plain
A woman dressed in black upon a horse without a name

She raises in the saddle and she cocks a mighty lance
And the fighting stops around me as they catch her in their glance
And it seems to take forever for her arm to make the cast
As we wait to see which one of us is going to breath his last
And her arm is down and now the spear is flying straight and true
And we wait in silent terror for there's nothing else to do
And there's a roaring in my ear and there's a fire in my eye
As the warhead smashes though my chest and finally I die.
(chorus)

Robin, THANK YOU so much! That's it, and I had totally forgotten how god-awful gory and grim it was (and definitely not appropriate for DD after all, though I'm delighted to have it). All I'd remembered was the chorus. Thank you so much for typing the whole thing out -- it is greatly appreciated!

Oooooooo -- that was a wonderful poem!!

Just love it -- it goes so well with my CD by the group Blind Guardian "Nightfall in Middle Earth" which is music inspired by the Silmarillion.

CooooooooooL!! :)