Dragon Seed
At Elvish down, in Kobold night,
Some few once witnessed dragon flight.
Enchanted shining blades were drawn,
And nights dispatched the dragon spawn.
The dragon quest, for countless years
(To gift the maids with dragon ears)
Reduced the dragons in their lair,
'Til they were scarce as virgins there.
Now endless moons roll through the night,
Occulted not by dragon's flight.
Legends now, the fire and flame
That dragons belched, on Man's terrain.
The eye askance is upward cast,
When words be spoke of dragons past.
And mocking laughter fills the room
If one should speak of dragon doom.
The scoffers fail in dragon lore---
They little know of dragon spore---
The dragon seed that in these days,
Is growing still, in feral ways.
If minds are clean and hearts are pure,
When souls succumb to dragon lure,
We know the truth that is to be---
Dragons live, for you and me!
---Robert Lawrence Horton
Dragon Dreams
Long before the time of humans, even before the time of
dinosaurs, a great and wonderful dragon flew near the sun.
The dragon felt the warmth of the sun and decided, "this
is the place to warm my heart."
And so the great dragon took its tail in its teeth, curled
itself into a huge ball and slept as it circled around the sun.
As time passed, the skin of the dragon became covered
with dust and moisture, and mountains and oceans began to
appear on the surface of the sphere which wrapped itself around
the dragon's heart.
The dragon dreamt of many types of plants and animals
that came to live in this great land of the dragon's heart.
After some very long time, the dragon dreamt of a special
'human' creature. This creature had many wonderful traits, but
the dragon's dreams became troubled as it dreamt that these
humans might destroy themselves, the other creatures and the
very land of the dragon's heart in which they lived.
The dragon dreamt that some of these humans became
confused and moved the "H" from the front of the dragon's
heart to the end, and thus dragon's heart became Earth.
They seemed to think the Earth had been given to
them to do with as they wished.
With our music, dance, poetry, art...our garden...
our computer lab...or simply by the way we live our lives,
we can sweeten the dragon's dreams, return the "H" to its
proper place and nurture the warm heart of the dragon.
---Herb Moore
Dragon Eyes
I look to the sky and what do I see,
A pair of eyes looking down upon me.
They are greenish-blue with midnight black slits,
And when looked in are like endless pits.
But where do they come from? I have no clue.
I cannot see a body, can you?
Looking down the land seems green,
So much to see and nothing seen.
Blended around. Uniquely swirled.
From my perspective upon the world,
I see but eyes gazing up at me.
Full of what? Curiousity?
I sneeze and lightning strikes,
My tail curls around the second star to the right.
My claws dig in the earth so soft and fine,
But yet those wondering eyes hold mine.
---Aurablade and Talix
A Letter From Dragons
They forced me into the dragon's cave
And I came back with a letter and three dozen other girls.
I read those words over again.
(Dear whoever
Please take these poor frightened creatures back
And will you just leave us alone?
You kill us without knowing our names
And you are sacrificing souls to us without asking.
If we even wanted you to.)
---Valerie Hardin
Leviathan
I will not conceal his parts,
Nor his powers, nor his comely proportion.
Who can discover the face of his garment?
Or who can come to him with his double bridle?
Who can open the doors of his face?
His teeth are terrible round about.
His scales are his pride,
Shut up together as with a close seal.
One is so near to another,
That no air can come between them.
They are joined one to another,
They stick together, that they cannot be sundred.
By his neesings a light doth shine,
And his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.
Out of his mouth go burning lamps,
And sparks of fire leap out.
Out of his nostrils goeth smoke,
As out of a seething pot or caldron.
His breath kindleth coals,
And a flame goeth out of his mouth.
In his neck remaineth strength,
And sorrow is turned into joy before him.
The flakes of his flesh are joined together:
They are firm in themselves; they cannot be moved.
His heart is as firm as a stone;
Yea, as hard as a piece of the nether mill-stone.
When he raiseth up himself, the mighty are afraid.
By reason of breakings they purify themselves.
The sword of him that layeth at him cannot hold:
The spear, the dart, nor the habergeon.
He esteemeth iron as straw,
And brass as rotten wood.
The arrow cannot make him flee:
Slingstones are turned with him into stubble.
Darts are counted as stubble:
He laugheth at the shaking od a spear.
Sharp stones are under him:
He spreadeth sharp pointed things upon the mire.
He maketh the deep to boil like a pot:
He maketh the sea like apot of ointment.
He maketh a path to shine after him;
One would think the deep to be hoary.
Upon earth there is not his like,
Who is made without fear.
He beholdeth all high things:
He is a king over all the children of pride.
---The Book of Job, XLI,12-34
Untitled
People call them Pterodactyles: but that is only because
they are ashamed to call them flying dragons,
after denying so long that flying dragons could exist.
---Charles Kingsley
A Very Different Dragon
The boy bit off a stalk of grass and chewed it.
"Going to make a long stay here?" he asked politely.
"Can't hardly say at present," replied the dragon. "It seems
a nice place enough--but I've only been here a short time,
and one must look about and reflect and consider before settling down.
Besides--now I'm going to tell you something! you'd never guess
it if you tried ever so! --fact is, I'm such a confoundedly lazy beggar!"
"You surprise me," said the boy, civilly.
"It's the sad truth," the dragon went on, settling down between his paws
and evidently delighted to have found a listener at last:
"and I fancy that's really how I came to be here.
You see all the other fellows were so active and earnest
and all that sort of thing--always rampaging, and skirmishing
and scouring the desert sands, and pacing the margin sea,
and chasing knights all over the place, and devouring damsels,
and going on generally--whereas I liked to get my meals regular
and then to prop my back against a bit of rock and snooze a bit,
and wake up and think of things going on just the same, you know!"
---Kenneth Grahame
Untitled
It is either characteristic of the dragon that it lives in the clouds,
gives birth to its young there and never comes down to earth;
or it rises up and sinks down, and then it brings its young into the world down here,
and when these grow up, they rise up to the clouds.
to say that the dragon ascends into the air, implies that it is a spirit;
if it were not a spirit, it could not reach the clouds,
since it is characteristic of spirits that they ascend so high.
But man is nobler than the dragons; how then does it come about
that the nobler creature cannot ascend so high, while the lesser and baser can?...
Moreover, the dragon possesses an outward manner; if it moves thus,
it can also eat; but a being which has an outward appearance,
moves visibly and eats, cannot be termed a spirit.
Further, it is not commonly said that the dragon is king
of the three hundred species of animal? As king of the animal world
it must also have a body, since what is a king without a body?
---Anon
Where Did All the Dragons Go?
Long ago and by and by,
dragons ruled the earth and sky.
They scaled the mountains,
climbed the trees,
slept in castles,
swam the seas,
and flew; they FLEW the turquoise skies
with gilded wings and amber eyes.
Some with feathers, some with scales,
some with furry heads and tails.
Gentle dragons,young and old,
hoarding gemstones, guarding gold,
gathering dragon crowds,
breathing fire, making clouds.
The fiery games that dragons played
made men and women quite afraid.
But children always understood
that dragons, in their hearts, were good;
they lved to join the dragon fun--
dancing, prancing in the sun,
roaring, singing, telling tales,
soaring over hills and dales.
Then one starry autumn night,
the dragons woke up with a fright.
Their leader's voice boomed overhead--
"Now's the time" was all it said.
Little dragons, big ones too,
every one knew what to do.
Those on mountains,
those in trees,
those in castles,
those in seas,
all let out a dragon sigh,
all took wing and filled the sky.
Children heard a thunderous sound
as dragon wings beat all around.
from every home across the land,
children scurried hand in hand
and watched those dragons flying by,
watched and sadly wondered why.
Sparks, like lightning, lit the way.
Dragons slowly flew away--
over mountains,
over trees,
over castles,
over seas--
then,
at the edge of the earth and sky,
dragons called a sad good-bye.
That's the last 'twas ever heard
of dragons--not another word.
Where did all the dragons go?
The smartest scholars still don't know.
But next time there's a thunderstorm,
watch the smoky gray clouds form,
watch the lightning flash its light,
hear the thunder in the night.
It might be so we don't forget
that dragons could be living yet--
waiting in a world nearby
just beyond the earth and sky.
---Fay Robinson
© 1997 singndragn@aol.com
