The Tethered Dragon

There he was tied on his short picket
in a wide clearing of trampled earth,
feeding from a wooden rainbucket,
a dark yellow dragon of great girth.

I did see him at one time in my dream
only, oddly, it wasn't really a dream,
he puffed, while feeding on cold junket
made in the dairy from urns of cream.

He had been a dreadful thing, they said,
when he was young and full or power,
but now he mourns on his straw bed
for freedom days when he didn't cower.

When noisy children visited sometimes,
they threw him bits of curd and clabber,
but often it was during his mealtimes,
at him the crowd would point and jabber.

Sad to see, a Great Worm reduced to this
having been, by lesser beings acquired,
for the purpose of the mayor's vain wish,
a fearsome pet, loathed at and admired.

A sorry spectacle of meaner excitement
of him I wondered if they ever will tire,
fed on milk to thwart his conflagration
by men that can't breathe their own fire.



~ Paige Chia ~

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