Enter The Dragon

Enter The Dragon
There be dragons here, or so the map says,
The further away from civilisation you go;
For those that go there, few ever come back
For the dragons, they say, have eaten them so.

There be wyverns there, so they have been told.
There have been tales told as far back as when
The sun had been born, and before time had begun,
When the weird, magical, fearsome beasts roamed.

From the deep the serpents thronged and tangled,
With bare instinct to guide them where or how,
There to cocoon on the right silver-black shores
So scores may die for the strongest of them to fly.

Where magic runs strong the majestic ones roam
From the foaming seas to the dark of the trees,
To the cold-crested mounts spewing ice-fire
Or way down in the earth in caves lined with gold.

Some are no more than hellish brutes from the north,
Fighting, crushing and eating, swearing with dark oaths
Bound in magic, live sacrifice and free-flowing blood;
In life and death their feet tread for the name of dark gods.

To the more enlightened wizened, kind, gentle yet strong,
To test the purest and pluck them from the throng,
To test if they have the right type of heart and mind
To lay down their lives and to protect others from harm.

Where be the unknown, the dragons are likely found,
From the shadows all round and the darkest night
They attack you in flight with bestial and magical might
And with portents of protection you must fight for right.

There be great drakes around here, they have said to me.
There are dragons, they say, still frighten them cold.
I've seen with my old eyes of silver-gold they be real
In your too-trusting eyes and the reflection of me.

Al