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| The Dragon Slayer by David Chapman |
She soars above
river and ravine in magnificence
while despair and
fear play hide-n-seek with her smoky shadow.
With penetrating
eyes, she seeks and destroys all defiance.
She melts lives
with fiery breath and renders fair fields fallow.
Her arbitrary
death paralyzes her innocent prey
by syphoning hope
from their simple souls one-drop-at-a-time.
Her teeth and
claws razor flesh leaving misery and dismay
As she devours
their life-blood—without reason, without rhyme.
On bended knee,
mankind prays to the ancient gods for relief
And many brave souls
with sword and shield challenge her to the death.
Enflamed by anger,
she slays them all—fueled on by pagan belief.
All hope becomes
lost to young and old—all fear her scorching breath.
Offerings of their
children temporarily satiate her greed,
‘til the young
princess stands by lakeside awaiting destiny.
A Christian knight
from lands unknown approaches on steady steed.
He vows to slay
the beast if all pledge to Christianity.
His lance pierces
the dragon’s thick hide with a near fatal blow;
with the
princess’s girdle, he leads the creature from the lake.
With Ascalon, he
impales the dragon—watches her blood flow.
The people cheer,
the king sings praise, and an alter he does make.
From the alter spouts
water pure, curing all ailments that grow.
The villagers
gather ‘round each eve to dance and sing again
of lessons learned
from valley to peak that all children should know—
“Don’t
play with fire. Don’t pee in the wind. Don’t tickle the dragon!”
Copyright 2013 Elizabeth Abrams Chapman
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