What I’m Trying to Say Is, I’m a Dragon

I am not the type

Who wants to forget pain.

I want to smear it

On my cheeks

And stir it into my tea.

Make it into a poultice

Bitter and spicy and sweet

like pepper jelly.

I want to absorb it

into the organs inside my soft, round belly.

It makes me something strange and more dangerous.

The fear of a coward who spits in the face of devotion

And tramples the tenderness of vulnerability

Is a spice that burns my tongue in a most delicious way.

I relish it

In a way you could never imagine.

I am a divine monster.

There is magic in the salt of my tears

That would burn your flesh

As it waters my devoted garden of impish plants

and polishes my iridescent scales.

I am majestic and merciful

But my Creator is jealous and vengeful.

Beware Her judgement.

The cosmos will satiate their wrath

And I will toast with the stars as we laugh

Because we know your spirit is so worldly

That you most likely won’t realize

When you karmically combust in a most spectacular way.

On the day you see me again

I know you will only recognize my earthly form

The shape you lusted for so greedily but never truly loved.

Your ignorant arrogance has blinded you

And by then I will have manifested

Into something foreign and rare.

I will be a creature who snacks on lies

And savors the shallow flatteries of simple men like tender morsels.

You will continue to drudge through your days.

Blissfully unaware in your plain-minded way

That I was the One you never should have had, and you were still dumb enough to let get away.