The Manner of Dragons

In 2003 I was invited to appear on the Assembly Election Night party at BBC Wales, presumably to represent literature, but maybe just fat blokes in loud shirts throughout the principality. Roy Noble, the BBC Wales presenter who was fronting the whole esacpade, asked me to write a suitable poem for the occasion during the programme, to celebrate the Assembly's first term of office, and it's contribution to the Welsh Arts Scene.

This was a trickier proposition than it appeared, as there was nowhere I could dissappear to to write it, and a party with free food and booze does not propitiate the muse!

So this was written the morning after.

The Manner of Dragons.

We know the Dragon's manner
From the songs the Bards have sung.
We know it breathes a breath of flame
From a mouth with a double tongue,

But the Bards don't sing the half of it,
And at the truth they baulk,
For the Dragon hasn't any teeth,
But, by God, can it talk!