Poem: "Dragons of Rain and Fire"

[ysabetwordsmith]

Based on an audience poll, this is the freebie for the January 2, 2024 Poetry Fishbowl meeting its $150 goal. It came out of the December 5, 2023 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from helgatwb and see_also_friend. It also fills the "Misunderstanding" square in my 9-1-23 card for the Story Sparks Bingo fest. This poem belongs to the series Quixotic Ideas.


"Dragons of Rain and Fire"


The dragons of the East
were ancient and wise.

They flew without wings and
commanded the Elements.

The dragons of the West
were vast and bat-winged
and downright piratical.

They could breathe Fire,
but coveted the treasures
of Earth and of Metal.

So of course when trade
became more common
between East and West, then
the dragons became ... an issue.

There were misunderstandings.

Westerners created scandals by
attacking the Eastern dragons.

Easterners just got eaten
by the Western dragons.

Dragons of any variety
being quite powerful, it fell
to them to police their own.

So the dragons of rain and cloud
embarked as ambassadors to
the dragons of fire and earth.

They spoke of peace and sharing,
just as priests taught human peasants
about the dangers of attachment
and how to avoid suffering.

At first the Western dragons
just laughed and rolled over
on their great golden hoards.

But eventually they began
to heed the Eastern dragons.

The changes came slowly,
almost invisibly at first,
creeping in like a tide.

The project took
thousands of years.

But that was all right.

They were dragons:
they had the time.

* * *

Notes:

Eastern dragons tend to be wise and peaceful.

Western dragons tend to be greedy and violent.

Buddhism teaches that attachment causes suffering, while nonattachment relieves suffering. Learn how to practice nonattachment. Ahimsa is nonviolence. Here are some ways to practice ahimsa.
 

Comments

Yay!

[helgatwb]

Did I tell you that I love this? Because I love this. 💛💛💛💛💛💛💛

Re: Yay!

[ysabetwordsmith]

Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it so much. :D

[greghousesgf]

this is just great!

Thank you!

[ysabetwordsmith]

I'm happy to hear that.

[ndrosen]

Congratulations on your poem. My story, “A Meeting of Dragons,” was longer, but covered only a brief meeting, in which a cultured Chinese dragon, brought a gift, a Sung vase, to his greedy and ill-mannered European kinswyrm, who craved treasure, although he would have preferred gold. The Easterner hoped that the desire for valuables would set the uncouth dragon on the path to finer appreciation and the higher virtues. No success was evident in the course of the story, but perhaps something could have been achieved in thousands of years.

Thank you!

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> Congratulations on your poem. <<

I'm glad you liked it.

>> My story, “A Meeting of Dragons,” was longer, but covered only a brief meeting, in which a cultured Chinese dragon, brought a gift, a Sung vase, to his greedy and ill-mannered European kinswyrm, who craved treasure, although he would have preferred gold. The Easterner hoped that the desire for valuables would set the uncouth dragon on the path to finer appreciation and the higher virtues. No success was evident in the course of the story, but perhaps something could have been achieved in thousands of years. <<

That sounds exactly the way it would go. Maybe after thousands of years and tens of thousands of encounters, the Eastern dragons would rub off on the Western ones and they would become more civilized. Thanks for sharing!