on dragons and men

i don't think
that any dragon
ever asked
for virgins to eat

maybe dragons
were harmless,
sailing in beauty.
only claws and teeth

to fight the hunters,
they were strangers
to the land of kings
and common folk,

inedible prey,
good for trophies,
for glory winning
the eyes of the crowd

maybe dragons spat
fire vaporizing clouds,
maybe by chance
flying too low

setting a fire
to a village,  castle.
i wonder why
they were all slain.

their blood
still a question
between terror
and holiness,

i feel they were
dangerous, but humans
were malicious
and it was the knights

who killed for lust
and fame and virgins,
the saints for baptism.
just symbols of power

the dragons suffered
extinction, and when
the last one wept,
these tears still burn

into our time
glistening on rhino horns,
elephant tusks, skulls,
cemetery stones

it is the infantile
humans, docile
and blunted to cruelty
who tied the virgins

for animals to eat,
at the kings command
to let superstition rule
and domination flower.

maybe the servants wept,
the fathers and mothers,
still they did it.
did they learn better?

each sacrifice
takes blood,
when it is not mine
but yours:

will it ever be right?

.