How to Train a Dragon

‘Tied like a cur, damp-breath, from the egg

you whipped my tongue to whimper.

And still I stand and face you, chained to corners

and choked by diamond metal. What to do

when, baleful days, my skin flattens

onto  bone and muscles work and harden?

Every hour I walk and walk my tether.

Oh yes, you need to tame me, flophead, 

But I will never yield to your fat will,

My fate is to destroy in hot adventure

and your flab-hands can reach but know that soonest

they will burn!.

When your Hero came

to fetch me out, human, no doubt you thought

my training would be easy. Here I stand

and baleful wait. Bring on your taming, sweet-blood.

I long for pain and battle. To drink. Break me? Pah! 

You have no skill, no will, no strategy!

I pace, I wait. Know that your unbending need

for me to yield will lead you to a longing

of your death. There is no key. Remember,

beyond blinking eyes, damp as dawn,

I tell you truth. There is no mercy in my stringy heart’