Year of the Snake 2025
The dragon did what dragons do
until he got too tired.
His wings were worn with flying.
His flames had all been fired.
And sleeping on his tummy fat
with every kind of meat,
he heard a kind of whistling sound,
a hissing, swishing, flissling sound
and carefully he turned around
and found he had no feet.
In fact his tail had grown so long
he couldn’t see its end
and that was when he knew for sure
he’d never fly again.
For all this time he’d carried,
disguised in his armoured tail,
his nemesis; the venomous
serpent who’d make him fail.
‘Please let me be and you may go
and roam the woods alone.
I will just rest here quietly
upon my dragon throne.’
‘Alas,’ the snake replied ‘you must be
first to feel my bite
and the new year will clothe you in
a blanket of pure white.
It's not a sign of weakness
great beast who owned the skies.
We all must live and all must face
the road to our demise.
I too am a creature of the dirt,
just as all creatures are.
Some of us travel close to home,
some of us travel far,
but in the end we all must see
the falling of our star.’
‘Snake, you are wise’ the dragon said.
‘I’ll gladly cede to you
the cares of all the coming days
aye, and their pleasures too.’
And with those words he looked once more
into the bright blue sky
and with a final puff of smoke,
the dragon said goodbye.
Oonah V Joslin is a 70 year old retired teacher and former editor at Every Day Poets and The Linnet's Wings. She was born in Ballymena N Ireland but now lives in Northumberland with her husband of 44 years, Noel. She has only published one book: Three Pounds of Cells.
Great poem Oonah! - Bill
ReplyDelete