Recovery means repeatedly facing into the very fears that hold the seeds of our deepest healing. Out of that challenge I think this was one of those quiet tales in the back of one’s mind just waiting for its time. I was experimenting with a chord progression that totally captivated me and then the words and story came through. The beauty was that I did not know the ending until the song took me there.
Once upon a time long ago and today
In a place quite near and really far away
I met a dragon that would roar with a thunder
Put you in a tremble, send you under the sheets.
That dragon spewed a fire that would turn the night to day
And when it spread its wings it touched the Milky Way.
Its claws could carve a canyon in a granite mountainside
And when it showed its scales you knew the time had come to hide.
Then one day a visitor came wandering through the land
Knowing only of the situation second hand.
She was puzzled, interested, asked to hear the tale.
Said she wasn’t sure what sort of problem did prevail.
After she had listened with a quiet steady ear
She looked up with her eyes and said one thing was surely clear.
It wouldn’t do to hide away at every quaking leaf.
She had just one suggestion that might offer some reprieve.
Look the dragon in the eye at the door.
Ask it clearly, why does it roar?
Ask it to tell you what the fire’s for.
Only ask because you want to know.
Ask because it haunts you so.
Then wait. The dragon will show you.
So I thought about just what I could do.
I could hardly imagine how I’d ever follow through.
The very idea of inquiring so bold
Left me quaking in my shoes, turned my body cold.
But even as I hesitated something small inside
Kept nudging me to think again though I was terrified.
It could be that the visitor had wisdom worth review.
I’d never know unless I tried to change my point of view.
So I crept up to the dragon’s door,
Looked it in the eye and asked why it roared.
Asked it to tell me what the fire’s for.
The dragon turned to me, watched as I did not flee
Then sat as for a guest, wings at rest now.
I saw its firelight, the eyes of dreams so bright.
I heard its roar so strong, the ancients’ ringing song.
I saw its firelight, the eyes of dreams so bright.
I heard its roar so strong, the ancients’ ringing song.