Puff's Perspective

There weren’t always dragons in the valley,

We came out of the sea.

Initially, we lived in caves, which was rather claustrophobic.

Scouts went out to find a place where we could live and grow,

Somehow I got left behind when they left that fall.

Perhaps I was frolicking by the sea and was not aware the others had gone.

At first I was lonely, but then you came along, my rascal friend.

You were fearless on our adventures.

I was more scared of you than you were of me when we first met,

You didn’t even flinch when I roared.

Didn’t we have fun together traveling on the boat we built just you and I?

I tried to tell you we didn’t need a boat, that I could float anywhere,

You seemed to think it was important,

You brought sheets from your bed for the billowed sails.

Those sails did get us a lot of attention and respect,

Especially from royalty and pirates.

You felt like a feather whenever you rode on my tail.

I don’t know where the idea came from that I had magical powers.

I think you started that rumor.

I still have the box of all the things you brought me,

But the boat we built sank years ago with them.

I have one question, Jackie:

Where did you go? Why didn’t you ever come back?

As quickly as you showed up there by the sea, you were gone.

Gone from Cherry Lane; gone from Honey Lea; gone from by the sea.

I was even more alone than before. No dragons, no little boy.

One of the pirates told me what happened to the other dragons.

It was hard for me to comprehend what he was telling me,

About a giant object that fell from the sky.

My first thought is that it had harmed you as well,

The pirate seemed pretty sure only us dragon—which he called dinosaurs,

Were impacted by the ball of fire that fell from the sky

And caused infernos hotter than any dragon’s breath.

It doesn’t matter how magical you feel or how close to the sea you live,

When your best friend leaves you, you no longer feel like roaring.

Any courage you have disappears.

I cried—a lot, and then went back into the cave alone.

Exhausted from grief, I slept, for eons…for millennia.

There were more years and more tears than I could count.

I lost all of my green scales from grief—leaving me bald,

That must have been what happened to my family,

And why the pirates thought they were something other than dragons

I hope you are okay, my old friend.

I hope your family has not gone extinct like dinosaurs.

I hope humans are not reduced to fanciful stories,

Created by imaginations of others who never really knew you.

We knew each other, loved each other.

I am just a naked dragon without without magic,

Without others like me or humans like you.

I may never frolic again, or roar again.

I may not have a friend perched on my tail,

Or one who bring me fancy gifts.

But I did have all of that once and am grateful for it.

I don’t know if there will continue to be kings and queens,

Do pirates still wave to little boys?

I do know that life is precious and short and that the planet if fragile.

I do not know what, if anything, comes next.

I just hope it has a Cherry Lane, a Honey Lea,

And best friends who will frolic by the sea.