Here be Dragons - Ph.Dragon's Nest

 Once upon an eon out searching for a dream  I came across a large device oblique within a stream  High atop sat Dragosaur, the dragonlord of time  Informing me that by default this strange device was mine

Shapes I did not recognize were carved into its face  Something like a dial aliens sent from outer space  Being thus illuminated poorly from the rear  Rendered Dragosaur a silhouette provoking fear

Puffing out his scales in such a way that chilled my bones    He spoke in dragonese with very deep and raspy tones  ‘This-s-s-s time machine is yours to take wherever you would go-  But don’t unravel time by traveling back against the flow’

As he spoke the words he lifted off on bat-like wings  Disappearing through the night and off to other things  Here at center stream the time machine awoke to stir  With the bold tic tock of an angry clock the hands began to whirr

Then it started bouncing off the rock on which it sat  Where was once a dial folded down and now lay flat  Although he was gone his voice spoke over the intercom  Dragosaur said loud and clear, ‘All passengers get on’

Without hesitation I got on and found a seat  Door closed up behind me and we took off at lightspeed  Passed the moon and left a contrail straight across Pluto  I looked back and saw the line, a cosmic tic tac toe

Then the tray in front of me just let its own self down   Dragosaur spoke as before although he wasn’t ‘round  ‘Choose a destination from the many on the screen  Universe awaits and there are things you’ve never seen’

I started pressing buttons flipping switches turning dials  Anything with colored lights I acted like a child  ‘Do not touch the red one’ announced Dragosaur too late  Clocks reversed to seven that had formerly said eight

Then we started spinning and a-twirling round and round   Everything went sideways down was up and up was down  Headed straight for Neptune we were just about to crash  When I saw the vanish slot and fed it five bucks cash

Dragosaur as did before came o’er the intercom  ‘That was much to close this craft almost became a bomb  Follow the instructions up above you on the dome  Then make all adjustments to your seat, we’re going home’

epilogue

The time machine set down to rest and splashed into the stream  Doorway opened I jumped out and let off with a scream  What a way to spend a day it brought me straight to tears  Then I checked the time- I had been gone ten thousand years!

Everyone I know is gone, and everything I knew   I pressed too many buttons or I perhaps a bit too few  I jumped back in the time machine, to fix this awful crime  Off to find the Dragosaur, the dragonlord of time

Joseph John Racano

Another installment in the ‘Poetry of Dragons’ collection

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©@JosephJohnRacano/06/14/2020