Dragon Poetry and Quotes

"I think there is in the heart of a man a place made for wonder.  It sleeps inside, awaiting fulfillment.  All one's life, one gathers treasures to fill it.  Sometimes they are tiny glistening jewels: a flower blooming in the shelter of a fallen tree, the arch of a small child's brow combined with the curve of her cheek.  Sometimes, however, a trove falls into your hands all at once, as if some greedy pirate's chest spilled before an unsuspecting beholder.   Such were the dragons on the wing..."
- Amber, from Mad Ship (Book 2 of The Liveship Traders trilogy, by Robin Hobb)

Is it the past I see
When I look up to the heavens,
Believing in the magic that I know could never be?
I want to go where they are going
Into the world they've been -
Can I open up my mind enough to see?

Flight of dragons
Heavenly argosies
Catch the wind, rise out of sight.
Flight of dragons
Pilots of fantasy
In the sky, or in my mind...

- sung by Don McLean

"Never laugh at a live dragon."
- Bilbo Baggins, from The Hobbit (J. R. R. Tolkien)

The Head
                 the placement of the jagged teeth,
The poison glands, above, beneath
The forking tongue.
                                 Eyes that spark fire?
The mouth, when open, breathing desire?
The jaw reticulated, viz. the snake.
The voice articulated, viz. the crake.
The tone: a cry, a scream, a roar?
In the making of dragons less is not more.

The Trunk:
                   the body comes in three basic styles.
One, the sinuous body that goes on for miles
(or metres in our continental design)
That is our Ouroborus line.
Two, the stumpy, humpy dinosaur
which will cost you a bit more
but comes with guarantees in parts replacement.
(We keep a year's supply in our basement.)
The third, imported from the east,
well, we recommend that one the least.

The Tail:
                     caudal vertebrae aside,
a tail can be narrow or it can be wide,
it can be flexible or it can be hard,
used for a rudder, a weapon, a guard,
but all tails must be a certain length
to guarantee balance, poise and strength.
Here is the formula (or as we say in the trade, the key):

Length from nose to sacrum + 2 x 2½ equals tail
                                                or
                                  NSL + 2 x 2.5 = T

Options:
              scales, feathers, skin, or fur.
Sexes: him, it, hermaphro, or her.
Nails: oak, teak, ivory or steel.
Diet preferences: beef, chicken, pork, game or veal,
vegetarian (this last within reason),
or maidens in or out of season.

Our payment plan is based on need.
We take your house, your soul, your seed.
Please understand:
                                a dragon is a work of art.
If you prefer installments, we take your heart.
Just initial your preferred design
and here, on the bottom line . . .
                                                     sign.

- J. Yolen

"No sense in getting mad at a dragon for being a dragon."
- Jeremy, from Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher (Bruce Coville)

My master fails to notice,
Though I know that he is smart,
The incalculable sadness
Deep within my dragon heart.
But I am not complaining,
I've no sorry tale to tell,
I am my master's dragon,
And my master treats me well.

- J. Prelutsky

"We do not have Man's gift of tongue or of the imagination.  What is - for dragons - is.  We cannot wish it away.  We cannot make the real unreal, or the unreal real.  I envy Man this gift."
- Grandfather Dragon, from Great-Grandfather Dragon's Tale (Jane Yolen)

Now they say our time is over
Now they say we've lived our last,
Now we're treated with derision
Where we once ruled unsurpassed.
We must make them all remember,
In some way we must reveal
That our spirit lives forever -
We are dragons!  We are real!

- J. Prelutsky

"Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup."
- Unknown

It peered at me with deep blue eyes
And slowly fanned its silver wings.
When it opened its fanged mouth
I quite nearly dropped my things.

“Hi,” it said in a small voice.
“Might I ask just what you are?
See, I’m not from around here.
I’ve been flying long and far.”

“I’m a human,” I replied.
The dragon chuckled loud and long.
“Humans don’t exist!” it laughed.
“Well,” I said, “you must be wrong.”

“Humans are just fairy tales,
Scary beasts in armor bright,
Hunting down bad dragonets
Who won’t behave or don’t do right.”

“Well,” I answered, slightly vexed,
“I thought dragons were not real.
Big, green-scaled and flaming mawed,
Said to favor me for meals.”

The dragon grew quiet then.
“I guess the old tales were wrong.
You don’t look a frightful beast
As I’ve heard in bedtime songs.”

“And you,” I answered, “seem nice.
Though I must admit it’s odd
To speak with purple dragons
In the next-door neighbor’s yard.”

“It’s been fun, but I must go.
I hope I meet you again!”
The dragon flew off and waved.
“Just wait ‘till I tell my friends!”

As I walked home, I wondered – 
What if other tales were true? 
What of those I thought were facts? 
Did I know what I thought I knew?

Such questions puzzled me that night
And again early next morn,
When I looked out my window
And saw a pink unicorn...

- TBW

"Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus"
(Never Tickle a Sleeping Dragon)
- Hogwarts school motto, from the Harry Potter series (J. K. Rowling)

"And the Dragons' song, so wild and strong,
fell from the sky like rain
upon my soul; which, watered well
bloomed with a joy no words can tell
where once was a dusty plain."

- from Song in the Silence, by Elizabeth Kerner (Starscape)

It is not recommended to leave children and hungry dragons alone.

-  -  -  -  -  -  -

(The dragonologist’s) task is to conserve and protect those few dragons that remain, for who knows how many shall last another century, with the human population growing at such an exponential rate?  And with them, how many more of Earth’s creatures will become extinct until people start to say they never existed at all, except in our imaginations?

(Above quotes from Dr. Ernest Drake's Dragonology: The Complete Book of Dragons, by Dugald A. Steer, editor (Candlewick Press)