Dragon Sympathizer (Poem)

[rizzyz]

Okay, so this poem isn't exactly my best work, but I wanted to post it just in case there were any other Dragon Sympathizers out there. Construcive criticism is definitely welcome.

Dragon Sympathizer


I am
A dragon
Sympathizer.
St. George and the Dragon?
I’ve read it.
Story of knights
I have heard.
I know of their daring
Escapades
To the lairs of those demons
In scales.
I’ve heard how they’ve climbed
Up the mountains
So bold and so brave
(And hopefully handsome)
To stand on that cliff
Over that cave
And quake in their armor
Sore afraid.
I’ve heard how they’ve stood
With sword and with shield
Their eyes burning bright
With bloodlust and courage.
I’ve heard how the dragon
With fire-eyes flaming
Comes out of the cave
With a roar.
I’ve heard how they’ve battled
Both daring and dueling
And hoping for life at the end.
I’ve heard how they’ve struck
The final blow
With dragon-fire cooling
Under cold steel.
I’ve heard how the knights
With valor and victory
Descend from the cave
To undying applause.
But I am
A dragon
Sympathizer.
What happens to that dragon
No one bothers to know.
I never have heard
In pen or in story
How the dragon did quake
As the knight found his cave.
I never have heard
Of the fear of the dragon
As he tries and he tries
Just to stay in his home.
And I never have heard
Why that knight is so righteous
By not letting the dragon
Live in peace on his own.
Why is that dragon
Left out of our stories?
Why is that dragon
The villain of old?
And why can’t the dragon
Have friends
Or have family?
Why can’t the dragon
Not want to die?
I am
A dragon
Sympathizer
And I want to know
What the dragon was thinking
As he stared at his final demise.
And I want to know
Why he gave up an opening
Just to let that knight
Give one final strike.
Because I am
A dragon
Sympathizer
And more than anything
I know its true
That no brave knight
No matter how daring
Could ever beat
A dragon at his best.  

[beaulolais]

i especially like your thoughts behind the poem!

sympathy for dragons is a strong thread in Tehanu by Ursula K. LeGuin, which suggests an element link between them and magicians; perhaps they may once have been (or now are) one race in different forms.

Gordon Dickson has written a wonderful book from a pro-dragon point of view, The Dragon and The George http://www.amazon.com/Dragon-George-Gordon-R-Dickson/dp/0345350502  

[rizzyz]

Thankies! I'll be sure to check it out. I've been reading a lot of dragon book expecially Jane Yolen's Here There Be Dragons which includes tons of stories, with at least one told from the dragon's point of view.  

[beaulolais]

Jane Yolen is a master craftsman of fantasy writing.

i heard her give a 3 hour symposium and chat at our local community college last year, on the skills of a writer.  

[rizzyz]

I am so jealous. Wish I could have been there... It must have been awesome!  

[beaulolais]

she was just like a real person, asking us by name about our interests and ideas, answering all our questions, even personal ones.

like she wrote a book about a grandad taking his little grandson out fishing on summer vacation and next summer he's not there and the boy asks why and his mother uses exxamples from nature to explain death to him.

it did turn out to be autobiographical but she did not flinch from sharing with us.  

[Sita Harker]

Wow. I really like that poem. It's really pretty smile  

[beaulolais]

yes, and sensitive and engaging.

we are drawn in to the dragon's eye view of things.  

[archenteron]

see: Patricia C. Wrede, "Dealing With Dragons"