Red Dragon

Red Dragon

When Mother sent me out to play
Just in the garden there,
I saw a flower in the bed,
A crimson rose of deepest red,
I drew my sword, beware.

Imagine now Red Dragon’s glare
His eyes sun fire hot.
With thorny spikes on tail and back,
Or poison breath he could attack,
But would he get first shot?

He sprayed his poison cloud of rot
The vapor took my sight.
I staggered now in darkness thrust,
My magic blade I had to trust,
I swung with all my might.

Red Dragon rasped, “You silly knight,
I’ll do you in this day.”
I dropped and rolled but felt the sting,
His tail thorns caught me lingering,
I bled right where I lay.

I had to make Red Dragon pay
For terror he had wrought.
A menace to my neighborhood,
This nemesis of childhood,
I'd make him come to nought.

I feigned my fading as we fought
His pride and ego swelled.
When he drew nigh to watch me die,
Then through his neck my sword did fly,
Red Dragon I had felled.

The Queen rushed out and screamed and yelled,
“You lopped my precious rose.”
She took the stick out of my hand,
And banished me from Garden-land,
That’s how the story goes.

So if you’re ever sent to play
In Garden-land my friend,
Beware red dragons lurking there,
But even more you must beware,
Queen Mother in the end.

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Syllable pattern is 8-6-8-8-6. Rhyme scheme is a-b-c-c-b then b is used to start the next stanza, except in the last stanza which reverts to the first line of the poem.

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