Also a contest entry. Dark and slow. Aching and filled with longing. Enjoy.

She was sent to the woods

As many were sent before like

Drops of water from melting snow

Drip, drop, drip, each and every spring

With one hundred streams flowing by

She was sent to the woods to die

*

She went from the town

Where names of all maidens

Sat upon a wooden dial

With a spinning arrow, Cupid's toy

Spinning, spinning, each and every spring

But only the poorest were ever sent

When money flows, the rules are bent

*

One maiden, two maidens,

Three

*

Spring had its own rites

So she was sent to the woods

For the dragon's delight

Town elders with their craggly skin

Fiery eyes

Their forked tongues breathing lies

"For life, for us

You must die

For it is spring, the time is nigh."

*

The dragon's commands were clear

Reaching back one hundred years

At the break of spring

A woman unwed

Deep in the woods must go

For the town to reap golden what it sows

*

Armed only with a book

And her heart bold and bright

She stepped between trees

On a path of white stones

To the dragon's den and sheltered pool

With lily pads and pollen o'er strewn

Deep in the darkness of the woods

One maiden and her book did go

*

Her book bloomed soft in her hands

By the pool, the dragon's clear pool

As snow drops nodded near

She waited and waited through the hours

In faraway lands

Reciting whispered tales of

Black deeds and blacker woes

*

A puff of steaming breath

Did call her home

With a start

And a startled heart she did see

Unawares, he had crept

The dragon had crept to her side

And now o'er her shoulder did spy

*

Pictures did him no justice

Old wives' warnings no truth

For as sharp as were his claws

As deadly he was of tooth

He was the beauty of the morn'

And the colors of the dew

All with sunlight dazzling through

*

"You are young," – he says

"Young? Nay, too poor to live."

He trembled leaf-like at her words

"Child, you are much too young to be here.

'Ere the sunset does color the sky

You must away.

Till then, stay.

Stay and while away the day."

*

So she stayed and whispered her tales

Till light began to fade

When courage at last spurred her to beg,

"But what of the others?

One maiden, two maidens,

Three?"

"Child, you could say, I set them free.

Now run swift as the hart

In the woods

When the hunter lets his arrows fly."

*

She returned, the first of the maidens to reappear

The old wives stared, the children ran,

The elders called her forth

Sitting on their golden thrones

"What did you see?"

Asked mouths like red coals

"The dragon, the dragon."

She faced their stinking breath,

Greedy hands

And slithering eyes

"What did he say?"

"Will the crops grow?"

"Will the money flow?"

"Never fear—" said she.

"You will reap golden what you sow."

*

The dragon, the dragon

Does demand

One maiden at spring

Such is his command

*

Spring returned, first frosty then green

She was sent to the woods again

For there is no wealth

Without some loss, it has ever been

She took up her book

And whiled away the day

Simply herself and the Dragon

Sitting so still!

Peering o'er her shoulder until

The moment the sun dipped behind the trees,

"What of the others—

One maiden, two maidens,

Three?

Where did they go?"

"Child, you are too young to know.

It is time, you must away."

*

In the town after her return

They hissed their smug delight

This success, their cleverness showed

Another year passed this way

Alone she walked day after day

Till spring came and before the gate

She stood to cry

"Let me out, by and by!"

*

Four years, she walked out

Four year, she returned

But what of the others?

One maiden, two maidens,

Three?

*

A fifth spring melted snow

Her name mattered not

The maiden who in the woods did go

Weary of heart

Arms heavy with books

Between dark trees to the dragon's den

By his soft pool to sit again

Here he slept through winter's ice

Only at spring's step to stir

"They have sent you to me, one more time?

So ready to send maidens, in exchange for coin?"

His scales flash blue and green

"I came on my own,

And now I would know,

"What of the maidens who came before,

One, two, three

And four?"

"Oh, there were many, many more.

They came, each and every one to my lair,

And found me waiting there.

I asked of them, as I will ask of you,

To stay till darkness, that a kiss I may give,

Lady, will you wait?

Stay until night and a kiss I will give."

*

And until night, there she did stay

When in the dusky haze

The dragon did change

The world around her changed, as well

And with the shift did dragon become man

And maiden began to understand

"For a kiss, I would die," he says

"With a kiss, I will die," she replies

And with a kiss from sweetest lips, did she die a little death

*

But it is spring

And with spring comes life

So with a kiss, did she live again.

"And the others?" she asked for the last time

"Far from here did they stray, not a one wishing to stay,

But with gifts of gold and silver went to new life far away."

"Then, I will stay, now each and every day."

*

Yet, in the town,

Summer came not that year

Nor golden harvest reaped

The money to dust

The people to tears

For what town deserves wealth who lets dragons decide

One maiden, two maidens

Three

Their lives for others' prosperity?

*

One maiden, two maidens

Three

All have gone on to find their fate

But me

My love is here

Both dragon and man

My love, my love

*** The End ***