and
often breathing fire; (w. allus. to legend) watchful guardian
of
treasure etc; fierce person, the old D…,
Satan;
lizard
of genus Draco with wing-like structures; KOMODO dragon.
2.
…-fly, neuropterous insect with long slender body and two pairs
of
large wings usu. Spread while resting; …Concise Oxford Dictionary
1982.
People
love dragons. They say so. A discussion about a movie, let’s say, we were
talking about The Hobbit, Battle of The Five armies and the special effects
including the design of the dragon Smaug is
mentioned in passing. Someone always pipes up, “Oh I really love dragons, don’t
you?"
At
this point, apart from having a sensible discussion interrupted by a complete
fantasist, I now have to consider my viewpoint and try to be diplomatic. I have
to consider whether I may hurt someone’s feelings by telling them the obvious
truth. “THERE ARE NO SUCH THINGS AS DRAGONS.”
No
honestly! You can’t have one as a pet. Palaeontologists have never uncovered
their remains, nor has anyone in history ever report actually seeing one. So, I ask myself, “How can someone say that
they love dragons?” And yet …
as
a species we are fascinated by the unexplained, the imaginary and the
paranormal. There is no doubt that the Komodo dragon is a fantastic creature.
It is exotic, spikey, scaly and almost other-worldly! But it doesn’t fly,
breath fire or jealously guard treasure. There must be another type of dragon. A dragon-fly is scaly, beautifully shiny, colourful
with translucent wings and crucially, it flies! But it doesn’t breath fire or
do anything much other than eat, pollinate, mate, lay eggs and die.
I
must conclude that dragons only exist because of a human need to create
something beautiful beyond imagination; that exceeds our own physical
boundaries; that is stronger than any other living creature and has
capabilities far beyond our own. We have tamed many of earth’s wildest
creatures and outlived many others: we walk in the footprints of dinosaurs. Perhaps
then we need dragons.
Dragons – fly
Are
there dragons or just a fantasy?
Do
their beating wings whip up the winds
that
stir the stormy sea?
Does
the dragon’s breath ignite to fire the burning brush?
Their
piercing cries vibration, begin the landslide’s crush?
Are
tales about their gentleness mere myth?
Were
they hunted to extinction,
yet
remain immortal in illuminated glyph?
Still
their stories echo through the valleys and the hills
to
trickle down through streams of endless time
and
fuel imagination in our quills.
A
tender heart beneath a fearsome breast.
Fond
friendship forged with mortals, who
as
authors, to their beauty and magnificence attest.
Can
earth-bound soul resist a winged beast
with
flaring nostrils, breathing plume and flame?
Their
awesome strength is legend, East and West?
Are
there dragons or just a fantasy?
Does
the prose invent them on the page in solid form?
Do
words' atomic fusion set them free?
If
this be so –
Then
fly you mighty dragons.
Fly
for me!
Adele
V Robinson
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