dragon-slaying (phoenix)

I could so easily
Write some poetry
About the archetypal other
About your draconic lover
About the places between
Which you seem to hover
About a root sown in lust
Or one planted in disgust
About the mainland you occupy
Or the island you mistrust
But I won’t
But I won’t
But I won’t

That’s your sword
And your sorrow
For you as Lord
Or you as Zorro
To combat
To conquer
To slay
Tomorrow
Or today

Today, I sit cross-legged and at ease
Upon a battered battlefield in a land where
Relentless wars have been raging ever since
The beginning of its collective memories
And us, and us alone has taken me there

Blackened stumps that once were trees
Blackened souls that once were warriors
Blackened bodies beseeching their release
Yet none of these seem to affect me here
Untouched as I am by hunger or disease

For I have slain the dragon; that foul beast
Of betrayal that nearly killed me, but failed
Whereas it did destroy the very landscape
I had dreamt up in my chimeric fairytales

Although the earth is still simmering with
The embers of banal terror and bloodshed
This brook of consanguinity like the red sea
Has offered its warm, wide open arms to me

No more thirst longing to be quenched
No more tangos dying to be danced
No more children asking to be born
No more hearts destined to be torn

Just silence
Just peace

As I kneel to pay
Tribute to the dead
Whose eternal spirits
Are free now, unclad
From the masks of survival
From the chains of disdain
And as smoke clouds dissolve
For my worst enemy lies slain
My lungs bow in deep gratitude
For being free to breathe again