Dragon Tree!

Another sneak preview from Poetrees, coming this spring via Beach Lane Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. Here's the Dragon Tree based on an exotic species found in Africa, Asia, and the Canary Islands. Its sap is bright red in color and called dragon's blood, and its stems and branches are said to resemble the legs of a dragon. I keep the one in my backyard under close watch. Note the intricate rhyme scheme, internal rhyme, and alliteration.





Dragon Tree

The dragons all heap scorn on me
Because I'm born an earthly tree.
While dragons roam and dragons race,
I'm stuck at home, tied to one place.
For though my sap is dragon's blood,
My roots are trapped in dirt and mud.
Great claws I grow
But I can't gore.
And I don't know
To even roar.
In dragon dreams I scheme to fly
And scream in fire across the sky.
To leave this lowly life terrestrial,
And soar, what's more, in skies celestial.
poem, Dragon Tree, and image copyright 2010 by Douglas Florian