Tales of Monsters and Angels

Each and Every Spring - #RiteofSpringPoetry Contest

She was sent to the woods

As many were sent before

 Like the drops of water from melting snow

Drip, drop, drip, each and every spring

With one hundred streams flowing by

She was sent to the woods to die

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She went from the town

Where names of all maidens

Sat upon a wooden dial

With a spinning arrow, Cupid's toy

Spinning, spinning, each and every spring

But only the poorest were ever sent

When money flows, the rules are bent

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One maiden, two maidens,

Three

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Spring had its own rites

So she was sent to the woods

For the dragon's delight

Town elders with their craggly skin

Fiery eyes

Their forked tongues breathing lies

"For life, for us

You must die

For it is spring, the time is nigh."

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The dragon's commands were clear

Reaching back one hundred years

At the break of spring

A woman unwed

Deep in the woods must go

For the town to reap golden what it sows

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Armed only with a book

And her heart bold and bright

She stepped between trees

On a path of white stones

To the dragon's den and sheltered pool

With lily pads and pollen o'er strewn

Deep in the darkness of the woods

One maiden and her book did go

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Her book bloomed soft in her hands

By the pool, the dragon's clear pool

As snow drops nodded near

She waited and waited through the hours

In faraway lands

Reciting whispered tales of

Black deeds and blacker woes

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A puff of steaming breath

Did call her home

With a start

And a startled heart she did see

Unawares, he had crept

The dragon had crept to her side