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The Return of the Ones Who Never Left by Leticia Toraci
Dark green serpentine dragon,
You are the child of the winter forest.
I am a water dragon,
Child of sky and sea.
The line beyond,
Where bright blue merges with deep blue,
Reflects my scales.
As I fly in spiraling ascending patterns.
Windy skies touch salt waters
Wavy and unpredictable.
At the dawn of the world,
I was restless and curious,
So I left my seascape home in search of newness
And saw the land of forests
When dragons still roamed the Earth
Infusing each grain of soil with vibrant magic.
I recognized a soul mate and came out to play
With the naivete of love at first sight.
How I loved the deep green of pine needles:
They reminded me of your scales.
While my claws were iridescent like seashells
Your claws reflected the unblemished freshness of snow,
Your sinuous flight among the trees
And the primeval sun reflections
Like a will-o'-the-wisp on your scales
Covered the world with bright, fairy tale magic,
Reflecting the sunlight into its own sheer rendering
Of new beginnings.
We surrounded each other playfully,
Each of us a mystery and a surprise,
Each of us a master of their own spirals,
Their own games,
Looking for reasons to live,
For reasons to rejoice
In a world where magic was becoming so rare.
Later, when magic evanesced further,
We dragons went into hibernation for millennia.
Me, in the depths of my coral caves,
You, in your limestone caves filled with the purest mountain water,
One day, though, we will wake up,
We will fly sinuously between the treetops of the tall trees
And the lonely clouds again,
And the world will be renewed with love and magic.
The humans will look at us with awe and recognition
What they thought they had lost,
Was only deeply buried inside them.
We dragons being their freest thoughts and emotions
Given wings and motion
Yet again.