and so
the Dragon is not dead yet of its own disease
every night I hear it calling from my parents’ television
actors - on and off the tube
kings and queens in their own little worlds
sitting on The Bomb
the kingdom corrupt as ever
its people dissatisfied
“vote for me - I’ll set you free from unemployment and poverty”

and here I sit grounded in scholastic limbo
unable to change the score
the golden rule has become so tarnished
it’d be too easy to become one of ‘them’

text books close for the umpteenth time
Hawaii 5-0 giving way to the 11 o’clock news
retreat sounded to the bedroom
where a different kind of notebook awaits
hungry for words

just it and a funny looking cigarette
to keep me company tonight
a gift from a friend
“hold the smoke in as long as you can”
a cure for this beast ‘reality’
that’s stood me up - sat me down
ever since I was a kid

farewell Dragon
sometimes one has to fly to survive
I’ll fight you another day
but now it’s time to reach for the sky
and nothing or no one is going to stop me

bye bye child
did your parents not teach you
that dragons also know how to fly?


© 1981
Revised © 2016

760 hits as of February 2024

07/10/2016

Author's Note: The third opening poem in Along The Vertical Horizon, following, Mother Sky, and then Nightmare. The actual timeline for this poem is 1975.

Posted on 07/10/2016
Copyright © 2024 Chris Sorrenti