An Extract from this Month's Release: Dragon Trap

To celebrate this month's release of the second edition of 366 Days of Poetry released. Links to the collection can be found at: https://books2read.com/u/3n2Yv9.

 

Dragon Trap

 

Written on April 22, 2015, for the April 20 entry of 366 Days of Poetry, this piece was inspired by the sight of a cartoon tower.

 

In the castle,

all forlorn,

I hear the queen weep,

as she mourns,

mourns for husband,

father, son;

mourns for country lost,

nation won;

mourns for daughters

soon forced to wed;

mourns for knights

to lose their heads;

grows in anger,

tears soon dry,

sorrows, outraged,

pleads with sky,

calls the dragons,

calls their lord,

calls their ladies,

calls their claws,

begs for fury,

begs for flame,

asks for vengeance

in her name;

offers payment:

gold, land, toil;

offers kingdom;

offers soul;

agrees to pay

the steep price asked;

agrees to do

the mission tasked.

 

In the castle,

she calls the maids,

calls the knights,

and calls the knaves,

calls the ladies,

lords and slaves;

sets their tasks

their home to save;

does not reveal the secret cost,

the war she’s won,

the life she’s lost;

does not tell

of wedding feasts,

of transformations

or royal beasts;

does not speak

of the deal she’s done,

but appoints an heir,

a loved grandson;

approves a bride,

a replacement queen;

prays for courage

for the trap unseen;

drops the drawbridge,

lifts the gate,

pretends surrender,

until, too late,

the invaders learn

of treaties done,

of allies made,

and allies come;

that not all myths

are fairytales;

that stories burn,

and legends turn

the sky full dark,

with burnished wing

and fiery eye,

and deafen, with

full-throated roars,

the victims of

flame, teeth and claws.

 

 

Cover art is by Jake at JCaleb Design, and links to 366 Days of Poetry can be found on Books2Read at: https://books2read.com/u/3n2Yv9.