Fire Breather

By Olivia L. Casey

Birds flying through a bright red sunset

My scales too heavy now for me to rise.
Scales jabbed tightly in my many aches
Braided up in agony, I lie.

I lift a wing and loose a weakened cry
For I have found a body too weak to wake
The heavy scales I carry at sunrise.

Anxious eyes turned up to empty sky.
I have become a lowly flightless snake.
Braided up in agony, I lie

Alone, envious of the bird and fly,
My wings fall limp from time gone by. I shake
Those scales too heavy now for me to rise.

Angered by a soul too old to try
I lift my large head toward an endless fate.
Braided up in agony, I lie

Discarded. I wait and wait but will not die
And watch in fear as sun and sky abate.
I lift my heavy scales and try to rise
But braided up in agony, I lie.

Category: Featured, Poetry, SNHU Student