The Last Dragon

Sooner or later it was bound to happen
and your abilities would fail you,
your mind would suddenly fall silent,
done,

no longer willing to pull solutions out of the air
like a magic trick,
the audience unaware, their breath still,
in awe

of the dragons slain, their bodies
scattered and sparkling
like diamonds,
each larger than the next, but none

as large as the one before you,
evil and invisible, insidious as Satan,
and far more patient,
content to let you flail

blindly in the night
until your sword arm,
once so mighty,
falters, until

your shield arm,
one so steady,
falls, weary, worn,
defeated, and you stand, swaying,

waiting
for the final blast of fire,
your head bowed,
not in defeat, but in prayer,

a prayer of love,
simple love.
and in that moment,
as your prayer rises sunward

the last dragon
knows it has lost,
that his bones
will join the others

and all it’s fire and bluster
was mere theatre,
and that even as you stumble in weakness,
you are stronger than death.

About this poem

We are nearly to the end of our Lenten season. Less than two week separate us from the joy or Easter. This spiritual discipline I set myself on a month or so ago, of writing a poem and finding a picture to illustrate a word chosen by the “Rethink Church” initiative of the United Methodists has been good for me, but in recent days it has also become much harder. Starting each day with a blank page and a word to transform into a poem and a photograph has become more and more of a challenge.

Each day, I wonder if I can go on. Each day I wonder, will this be the day ideas do not come. Will this be the day my mind goes blank, my spirit is not open enough to find the inspiration I need to write. Will I hit the wall today. The past few days, that whispering of fear has been stronger than normal. This morning in particular that whisper gained a new voice.

That, I have learned, is when I need to pray longer. Not just to pray words to God, but to stop and listen. For God is always there, whispering his love to us, whether we are listening or not. And so I sat, cup of coffee to the side growing cold in my silence, waiting on God.

And got this poem. If you asked me, I could not tell you where it came from. Dragons are not part of my normal lexicon. My life is not one of battles and swords or fantasies or wars, not, at east in the sense that they speak in this poem.

But I a familiar with the whole idea that things are darkest before the dawn. I have lived it. I have seen how God works, and that even in the last moments, when I am utterly defeated by life’s events, he shows himself and saves the day. It sounds like a bad movie script, perhaps, with God swooping in at the last minute, but that misses the point.

Perhaps he waits until the last minute for reasons we cannot understand. Perhaps he needs us to be defeated to understand his power. Or perhaps it is a tactic to demoralize Satan, who time and time again sees defeat right at the moment he anticipates victory. Or, and this is more likely, there are other lessons at work that we simply have not grasped yet. He is God after all. And we are not.

And mostly, that is enough to know.

At this point in life, I have accepted that this is enough to know. I do not need to know why or how God works. It is enough for me to know he does, and that the battle is never lost. That fact alone gives me strength when other things fail. It sounds corny, naive. simple. But that’s OK with me. I worry less and less about how things seem as I grow older. I’m content to know what is, without knowing the whys.

About these Lenten Poems

My friend Cathy Benson is on to something. Instead of doing without for Lent, she is doing MORE with a prayer project that is thoughtful and caring.

Giving up something for Lent is a church tradition, not a biblical command. It was designed to get our minds and hearts right as we approach the holy week and Easter. It’s a good spiritual discipline.

But I think a spiritual discipline of doing something more is also a powerful way to prepare our hearts for Easter. The Methodists, through their “Rethink Church” initiative have come up with a photographic way to do this (see below). I am going to add a poem with each image for the lent season to help prepare myself. Feel free to glom on to the idea, visit the blog and read, or share your thoughts and prayers.