01-14-2018, 02:08 AM
Idyls of Fire
Sing now, O Muse,
dragons’ burning joy,
cruel burden of a race
doomed to extinction.
Once awesome lords,
savage recipients of
sacrifice and loathing,
paragons of passion,
trauma, torture, and
slaughter, icy karma—
never guilt or weak worry—
threatened their presumed
immortality.
Mortals learned to offer
victims to their blind desire
whereat daredevil heroes—
knights and saints
blessed with heavenly power—
would wound and devastate
hotheaded dragons,
victory a miracle.
As their race declined,
beckoned to oblivion,
dragonkind faced doom with
misery, burning tears,
wrenching sorrow, and—
in their last centuries—
transformation into legend,
spirit, steel, and steam.
Dragon spirits ran on rails,
swam ships on oceans,
lighted cities until,
hearts ablaze, dynamos a-spin,
karma balanced, they begin
plotting revenge.
[Couldn't stop... the challenge didn't say *exactly* seventeen, did it?]
Sing now, O Muse,
dragons’ burning joy,
cruel burden of a race
doomed to extinction.
Once awesome lords,
savage recipients of
sacrifice and loathing,
paragons of passion,
trauma, torture, and
slaughter, icy karma—
never guilt or weak worry—
threatened their presumed
immortality.
Mortals learned to offer
victims to their blind desire
whereat daredevil heroes—
knights and saints
blessed with heavenly power—
would wound and devastate
hotheaded dragons,
victory a miracle.
As their race declined,
beckoned to oblivion,
dragonkind faced doom with
misery, burning tears,
wrenching sorrow, and—
in their last centuries—
transformation into legend,
spirit, steel, and steam.
Dragon spirits ran on rails,
swam ships on oceans,
lighted cities until,
hearts ablaze, dynamos a-spin,
karma balanced, they begin
plotting revenge.
[Couldn't stop... the challenge didn't say *exactly* seventeen, did it?]
Non-practicing atheist