In the Dragon's Aftermath

He stood upon a blackened field of rye.

The fire-breather’s shadow loomed

Below the western sky.

He wondered if his life was doomed,

But, looking toward the dragon’s piercing eye,

He saw no note of malice there,

Unlike the drakes of old,

Whose greed was famed. Each caverned lair

Was lined with heaping piles of gems and gold

That glittered in the fiery glare

But left their master cold.

Then heroes of the stories rode

To best the beasts and win the world’s renown,

Invading every dark abode,

Perhaps, to gain a crown.

Today, the tale has changed its mode.

The monster followed as a consequence

Of modern humans’ hubris, bold

To manifest immense

Control of nature’s every fold

And quench the magic of the wider world.

With this, the mighty dragon woke,

And, leather wings unfurled,

It rained destruction, burned, and broke

The clockwork engines, gems of industry,

And raised the flames of which we spoke

With little urgency.

But now the fires are burning low,

And, standing there upon his field, he sees

A gentle rain to heal the woe

And wet the blackened trees.

It comes to fall on all alike

To quench this dragon of our own desire.

The beast departs, no more to strike,

Although it does not tire.

Its task is done, and all we’d built

Has crumbled into dust and come to naught.

He sees our great collective guilt

And every harm we’ve wrought.

He sees survivors kneel to pray,

Convicted by the dragon’s long-told birth.

He sees new hope in what they say

Of future lives of worth:

Restoring what was lost today,

But now as humble stewards of the Earth.


For me, this poem's fantastical elements are symbolic of the world's current environmental challenges, exploring a future in which those issues lead to sudden catastrophe. The hope is that, in contrast to the characters in the poem, we can change our mindsets and actions before encountering the full force of the calamity.