There were never dragons, were there?
No.
No, there were not.
They were just people.
who summoned fire and danced in its heat,
and we burned them for it.
That is what we did to exchange holiness, hate.
All I have are ghosts now.
They are heavy, my sins,
their faces, their eyes, screams.
I believe that this is the Lord,
teaching me that I cannot, no matter how many times I wash my hands,
no matter how many times I get drunk and lose myself,
I will always wake up in the rusted armor of a knight who buried those
I never understood.
I must sit in this, and tell you what I am,
a monster.
Maybe this will be a chance to be redeemed,
or lessen the weight,
to tell you,
that there were never dragons,
just women who believed in something I was scared of.
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Art by Ttimemachines on X
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This poem was inspired by the idea that dragons were any holy sects who harmed or killed others for not believing in their religion. In this poem, a knight confesses that there were never fire breathing dragons, but wiccans instead.
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Word Not World series is an interactive anthology where I show a picture, and use the words inspired by the picture to make a poem, such as this one. This poem was inspired by the words, “redemption” by Sudir (@sekharansudhir). If you would like to participate in next week’s Word not World series, keep an eye out on Instagram @enis.st.sparrow and here on St. Sinjin, I will post a picture on Sunday.