The Prince and the Dragon

Armoured only by his raw awareness
of vulnerability and the pain
of death, the desperate prince besieged the tower
to free the green-eyed lady or be slain.
Bewail the dragon's agony.

The dragon had mastered all the tricks of warfare
and seen and eaten princes before,
but the one thing he could not conquer was tradition
and thus, his nine lives he yielded sad roar after roar.
Bewail the dragon's agony.

The colours of the land had yearned to open,
the birds and brooks and bees to sing. But the snail
wrote a silver script across the sunshine:
that this was far from the end of the tale.
Bewail the dragon's agony.

The hero got his girl and gold and glory
and chose from his enemy's weapons, taking the best,
and went home to settle down to the life of
a dragon: plotting peril for every guest.
Bewail the dragon's agony.

Thomas Land

If you've any comment on this poem, Thomas Land would be pleased to hear from you.