Flight
1 The Dragon’s Betrayal
Bright egg in a blanket of flowers so fair
Tucked in lush grass arranged with care
Sparkle and shine the vibrant shell
How a gem was borne only angels could tell—
Oh the beauty! Rivaled only by the masses’ adoration!
Spores of dancing sunlight play upon the
glorious peaked dome of crystal facets
An aura of warm air, pulsating and
pumping nourishing life through hidden veins.
Ah! It duly rises and pushes through the shell
into the bright world, claiming Nature as Its own
And filling empty space with Its rousing
cry; trees shiver and the masses bow low.
For leather wings cast shadows on their eyes
And fangs cut sweet grass from the cracking earth
Blind and hungry desolation finds host
In the caretakers It claimed; they cower.
Bereaved, they slink slowly into the night
No longer lit by the egg they so loved.
2 The Bird’s Escape
Whisper whisper, wake and blister
The world’s awry, your eye’s a trickster
An egg encased in sorry neglect
That no one dared to even unmake
For the one before had been perfect
Who had known it had been a mistake?
So It emerged into an even colder world
Than the one It knew in the egg, and unfurled
Stiff wings lacerated by icy frost.
How could It know the true cost
Of what happened, for It had not yet
Been borne, had not tasted the regret
That older ones shared between mutters
Of the past, hiding the truth behind shutters
As blinding as the wings on their eyes
And inviting the debilitating ice?
It knew It was cold
And saw the snow
So It jumped and was met
By the endless sky
Of light
But it could not fly, crippled
by the past
It knew only that
It must escape
So it tried.
3 The Butterfly’s Forgetfulness
Flutter here and flutter there
So many flowers to taste
Too many flowers – an entire meadow!
Oh the delight to have so much so fast!
Remember, they say
And Its countenance gets grave
It had learned about the past before
The time gripped by death and war
It had been dark and so very bitterly cold
The world had been a mess, It’s told
Open the eyes and see none of the dark
For they had been chased away by biting
Beaks and mighty nest-builders who
Had bravely made the world anew!
And now flowers grew!
Flitter, flutter – REMEMBER!
But remembrance is nothing to a butterfly
So it giggled and reveled among blossoms
Under the bright, bright sun
In lush, sweet grass—
—The perfect bed
For a dragon egg
END
Be thankful, be aware, and never forget.
Take flight!
inlandiajournal 