A dragon breathes fire as a pen breathes ink.

When the pen suffocates, its breath runs out,

A knight has throttled your dragon round.

The story shared back home entails a defeat,

belonging to you, your ink’s retreat, that spilled

of red, your fire drained, and the pages laid

away to waste. As a poet you must persevere,

and in any case, never let that knight near.

It will snuff out your dragon,

suffocate your pen,

and the paper’s story won’t start but end.

A flame caged within the throat,

your veins and ink, a sea and boat.

That knight is asphyxiation, white-out

and water, your gravest challenge.

And it will win some days and hail over you.