Down in the shallows of new moon night
a beast one swore one saw with fright…
and by sunrise, quarry met the might
of a hundred men with goose flesh raised.
Stone is stone, and man is man,
so slow was progress in the plan
to build a fortress where they would ban
entry of the wing’d beast
who posed no harm nor reacted foul
but their power incited ignorant scowl
from one who saw their flame on a prowl
and used it to trigger fear.
The haunting vision of the town
aflame, charred, crumbling down,
masked each face with worried frown
until man searched for the beast to kill.
Man scaled the mountain to make a grave
of the ferocious, mighty dragon’s cave,
which was filled to brim with pseudo-brave,
until the sword was raised and drawn.
The sound of metal awoke the flame
and in due course did said fire rain
upon the men before the dragon was slain
and dropped at the feet of the beastly mortals.
They cheered a hearty, throaty chant -
draped themselves in scales to galavant
atop the bones of the last to enchant
an otherwise dreary world.
But no one save for a small child
admired the beauty of the chaotic wild
and on their face absent of a smile
a tear lingered upon their cheek.
Upon approach to the dwindling flame,
beside the dragon’s charred skeletal frame
youth wondered if man would still come to blame
the dragon when they set the town alight…
and down in the shallows of new moon night
a hundred men watched in shock and fright
as youth ascended, and with all their might,
chose with the power of foresight
to burn it all to the ground.
Samantha Pardo Irigoyen (she/her) is a multi-genre poet, with an emphasis on haiku. Her work has been published in numerous literary publications, including The Heron’s Nest, Wales Haiku Journal, Blithe Spirit, The Dewdrop, and Cathexis Northwest Press, to name a few. Additionally, in 2025 her work was accepted into The British Haiku Society Members’ Anthology Hope, and the Haiku North America anthology Nowhere Else. She is on the editing team for Poetry Pea Journal, and one of the founders and editors for O2 Haiku Literary Magazine. She lives with her family in the Pacific Northwest, a place of poetic beauty itself.
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