I’ve read somewhere our enmity with them –
With dragons – came just six short hours behind
Our first naive but bright and happy smile
Was met by two delighted goddesses –
Then young, though beautiful and awful still –
The smile of Terra and the Bright-Eyed Maid.
In but six hours they both turned old and dark
And warned of dragons lurking everywhere.
The first, a dress of thorns and thistles donned;
The second took to wandering disguised,
To urge the fight or yank the hero’s hair.
Once, nearer to the time when shadows fell
Upon this once bright, solid world, we had
A better time remembering the things
They said, and what is real. But now we say
‘There’s no such thing as dragons’ to ourselves
And curl up closely to the scaly things.
On Seraphim1Originally published in Spirit Fire Review, Nov. 2024 Issue
D. N. Keane
Beholding them through heaven’s opened door,
(As once Isaiah when Uzziah died)
St John said