Happy Valentine’s Day! To celebrate, let’s look at some of the most romantic poems from the Eirenic Verses. Including some you haven’t seen yet, because they’re going to be published in later books. Don’t you love a good sneak peek?

Go Deeper, Dreamer

Author: Cerie Korviridi
From: 9 Years Yearning

World a single person
gravity thrown aside;
horizons loom brighter,
skies just lovers see.

How the heart denies itself,
the longing burns a hole;
I extend my own torture
by breaking my dumb tongue.

Dare I tread across a vista
of sweet rhapsodic dread?
Plunge into the hope-fire
to retrieve what I so seek.

My soul is a vast cavern
aslosh with trembling truth.
Searing depths go deeper,
dreamer, than you can believe.

Dearest, see space I left empty
Waiting for your vow

Context: Cerie wrote this for Uileac to give to Orrinir, but he never ended up going through with it. Coward.

Boys of Bremish Summer

Author: Uileac Korviridi
From: Pride Before a Fall

Boys of Bremish summer
on holiday from school.

The sky is a lake above us;
we are spring-fed fish.
Parting the grassy bottom
of the universal pool.

Faster I flash toward you,
nimbly you slink away.
How fiercely I crave this,
hunting for your hand.

Deep in the trees I perch,
wondering if you’ll stray by.
Watching you through switchgrass,
tracking your loud laugh.

I prowl, I pounce, I seize you,
screaming in the dirt.
Silverfish eyes stare up at me
in uncertain, eager awe.

But we’re interrupted at the apex,
caught and herded home.

Context: After being kicked by Orrinir’s horse, Uileac was understandably irritable and lashed out at his husband. He wrote this to reminisce about their childhood together and apologize for his harsh behavior.

Traitor of Angels

Author: Saint Luridalr
From: Saint Luridalr and the Peony Phoenix

I am haunted; I walk into the wildfire;
I hide from the shadow of your scorching light.

Rosebud beauty, dart of destiny,
leftover ember of first epiphany.

It is hard not to beg you
for a glimpse of ghostly skin.

In your eyes, I see a new cosmos.
Mechanics of infinity. I can barely blink.

You are traitor of angels,
serenely wing-shorn in mortal mud.

Hypnosis, this something unspoken.
I would follow your tread to deadly forever,

if only to see your hand.

Context: After noting that her mysterious companion Alna-Rose never shows any skin, Luridalr rhapsodizes about seeing even the briefest glimpse of her hand.

As an aside, I have a tattoo of the phrase “Traitor of Angels” because it sounds very badass.

Seeking the Pink Flame

Author: Saint Luridalr
From: Saint Luridalr and the Peony Phoenix

I have ripped the earth to find you,
seeking your pink flame;
long will I wander this scorched world

until I lay with you again.

Praise is meaningless, comfort lost
without your smiling eyes;
but for one rosy feather

would I die a thousand lives.

Precious phoenix, sent of Poesy,
accept my endless shame;
slake your thirst with my crying

should it let me see you again.

Context: After raising the Rimuk Mountains, Luridalr’s mysterious Peony Phoenix disappeared. She searched endlessly so that they could be reunited.

Steel Hearts

Author: Irith Druidinn
From: Funeral of Hopes

Poesy forges steel hearts
melding them as one.
Sally forth, soldiers,
in endless poetry war.

Sacred battles bleed away
the loneliness of love lost.
May each kiss meet its target
in this life and beyond.

Blades matched, minds sharp,
honed to end all strife.
Never outflanked by suffering,
this mutual maneuver.

The saints will someday call you
to well-earned eternal rest.
Dream together forever
until we write the world anew.

Context: This is Uileac and Orrinir’s wedding poem, meant to bond them eternally in life and death.

Raptor Rapture

Author: Juliska Sygnus
From: What Is Cannot Be Unwritten

A hawk alights on my window,
eyes like burning gold.

To tame him, train him,
I must bear the pain.

My heart in steely talons.
Shredded all the harder
when I think I’ll wrest away.

Snap my bones or mend them:
only Poesy knows.

Kisses ripped from clenched teeth.
The rapture of a raptor wanting me
frenzies me even more.

Pray this to my goddess,
always so unknown:

May I not pour my life out
to be left in lonely nest.

Context: Mordrek finds this tucked into a wish bug that his Bremish lover, Juliska, had left behind before her death.

The Giving Boar

Author: Orrinir Relickim
From: Absent All Light (coming June 23, 2026)

There is only tonight for the taking: tomorrow
may be the last. Jaws be damned,
I’ll unhinge you. Make you more like me.

Deep in the cave of me, there are other fancies.
Nuzzling, muzzled, the grizzled survivor
soothed like a precious beast.

One day I’ll ask you to tread more gently.
Leave my hair untousled, croon a lullaby.
That is for a future version of this lover.
Today’s accepts the rage.

Ride out to the edge of moonlight;
let me be your mount.
Screams so loud predators shiver.
Spit this giving boar.

Roll and writhe a final moment,
each pleading mercy.
None will take it,
surely,
but we beg it all the same.

Context: Orrinir and Uileac are on a short journey to investigate a disappearance when they decide to settle in for the evening.

Heart-Balm, Silence Voice

Author: Cerie Korviridi
From: Poesy (coming November 7, 2026)

I am always in want with things,
the tip of my tongue always seeking
ripest fruit, deeper water, slake
an everlasting thirst;

and you. The florid glimmer
of flowing hair. A certainty of sailing,
navigating sleeping lands,

new moon the only light.
A taste I always yearned for,
heart-balm, a silent voice.

Context: Pathetically single Cerie tries to imagine what it would be like to have a partner.

What I always find so fascinating is that each of the poets in the series has their own distinct voice and themes which closely match their personalities. Cerie’s poems are dramatic and intense like her fiery personality; she sounds a lot like Saint Luridalr (not that this is relevant at all). Uileac’s poems are dispassionate and almost cold, while Orrinir’s focus on martial imagery and violent sexuality.

Which one did you enjoy most? I hope you have a lovely Valentine’s Day if you celebrate. I, personally, will be spending time with all my beloveds: horses, dogs, and rock climbing walls.