a dangerous exploration

one night I chose to dream alone
where dragons dwell, outside all maps—
I left the paths and concepts known.
I lost myself, there in the shade
where words were weak and chaos reigned,
my breath and blood began to fade
my fingers chilled, my language drained.

but as I emptied out my heart,
a dragon’s fire replaced my breath,
and in the dark, I found new art—
who am I now? could I have sung
the visions that now fill my mind?
some unknown rhythm took my tongue
I’m no one. formless. nothing. rhymed.

line count: 14

Author's Note ▼

I wrote this in response to two prompts. "The Writer's Cramp"  which asked for the final two words in the poem be "nothing rhymed", and "The Not-So-Daily Poem"  which asked for a poem about discovery in the form of a saraband, which is a seven line form, generally with eight syllable stanzas and a three four rhyme scheme: a, x, a; b, c, b, c. Within the form, there are variations, of course, but that's the rhyme structure I used. I've used the form before for another poem, but for some reason it kind of makes me feel like the poem itself is tripping without quite falling to the ground, if that makes sense. But that's probably just me.
Here is a link to the form: http://thepoetsgarret.com/2010Challenge/form13.html