Crystal Dragon

Creeping past the lair of the crystal dragon, hoping not to be a winter snack.

Note ▶︎

Written for "Magic Poetry Contest" 
Music prompt
32 lines
Since not everyone will be familiar with snowshoeing: "whisper...crunch" is onomatopoeia-- moving a shoe forward across the top of the snow is the whisper, then stepping down makes the crunch as the snow compacts.
At the end of a trip, you drive the tail end of the snowshoes into a drift by the door, and leave them out in the cold. If you bring them in to get warm, then they ice up at the start of the next trip.

Sussuration of my snowshoes
Murmurs in the wint'ry air
Whisper...
         Crunch
Whisper...
         Crunch
Falling snow, a gauzy curtain,
Hides the crystal dragon's lair.

Snow will hide me from the dragon,
From his cold and hungry glare
Whisper...
         Crunch
Whisper...
         Crunch
As I cower past his cavern,
Fortune keep him unaware!

Through the mountains I have quested,
Past ice towers stark and bare,
Whisper...
         Crunch
Whisper...
         Crunch
Through the forest, hoarfrost crested,
To the cottage nestled there.

Plunge my snowshoes in the deep snow
By the doorway, drifted there--
Whisper...
         Crunch
Whisper...
         Crunch
Come at last to home and comfort,
Fire bright, and cozy chair.