Poem: "Dangerous Refuges"
This is the linkback perk poem from the May 5, 2014 Poetry Fishbowl, originally hosted by DW user Dialecticdreamer. It came out of the June 2014 Creative Jam, inspired by DW user Thebonesofferalletters. It also fills the "Comings & Goings Freestyle" square in my 6-10-14 card for the Fanbingo fest. All 14 verses have been posted. Linkers include: DW user Dialecticdreamer, Anonymous, janetmiles, DW user Curiosity, DW user Librarygeek, wyld_dandelyon, DW user Nsfwords, and DW user Gingicat. This poem belongs to the series A Conflagration of Dragons.
Dangerous Refuges
The Madhusudana are peaceful folks,
but nobody's easy victims -- they know
the shoals and the safe channels,
both under the water and on the surface.
Ships or sharks that chase them
are flirting with destruction.
The Shu are gentle and scholarly,
people of field and forest,
but they too have their tricks
in the high thin branches of the woods.
To follow them is to court a fall
as they leap free and glide away.
The Beneberak are a
study in contradictions,
fire and water making them
prone to letting off steam.
Only they know which placid springs
are cold or warm or boiling.
The Hachi are placid people,
averse to conflict,
as quiet as the swamps
in which they dwell.
They leap from hummock to hummock,
avoiding quicksand that swallows their enemies.
The Imran love to fight,
gleefully turning to face their foes --
but if outnumbered,
they too have their tricks.
The trackless desert is their home, and
it's so, so easy for them to lose pursuers there.
The Eofor are stubborn as the stone
that makes up their mountain homes,
quick to reach for war-wrench or axe,
but they also have methods of mass destruction.
There are places in the deep-delving tunnels
where one tap of a hammer will bring down the ceiling.
Each race has its own traits,
its unique strengths and weaknesses,
divergent tastes that often
set them at odds with each other.
Then there are the dragons, against whom
nobody's refuge is really safe.