Dragon of the Night

“Fear not the night, fear not the dark,”
said the father to his daughter fair.
”There’s naught but shadow, but you may
chase that dragon back to its lair
by the simple lighting of a torch—
or candle, if one is at hand.”

“But alas! where to find a match,”
the daughter hastily replied,
“when everything is dark around;
as jet black as a starless night
and the dragon roars across the gorge
which divides this strange and shadowed land?”

“Oh, silly girl!” the man exclaimed,
“You will need neither match nor spark
to start the saving light that will
illuminate the endless dark.

“For the light I meant, from torch or wax,
’twas nothing but a metaphor;
just as the dragon—so unreal
that there has never been a roar.

“ ’Tis your courage that I had in mind;
the brilliant force that makes you bold.
You are known to have little fear
in daylight hours, or so I’m told.”

“ ’Tis right, my father dear,” she said,
“that I feel safe when there is light.
But now that you enlightened me
about the dragon of the night
I’ll sleep more soundly than before
on my bed of straw and sand.”

“I bid thee a good night then, girl.
Rest assured that your father cares.
And should anything be amiss,
you know you’ll find me over there,
where the fire crackles loud and high
and whispers tales of sea and land.”

Thus, father and girl went to sleep,
but unbeknownst to anyone
a creature crawled close, watching them
and baring teeth, deadly sharp and long.

No tales are told of what then occurred,
but rumours say there was a fight
and that the creature which killed the two
was invisible in the firelight.

(11/03 & 02/05)