Thoughts after Spenser
By Victor Howes
The Faerie Queen by Edmund Spenser
I never read — the thought’s absurd —
Of dragons gathered in a herd.
A lonely heath is all they crave,
A few scorched hamlets and a cave.
Perhaps no landscape can support
Multiples of the dragon sort,
Or does togetherness require
That dragons bank their breath of fire
And fold their tails, neat roll on roll?
Are dragons long on self-control?
The legend leaves the cause unknown
Why dragons always live alone,
I only know that solitude
Does not improve a dragon’s mood.
From Thoughts after Spenser by Victor Howes. Cambridge: Harvard Book Store, 2016. Copyright © Victor Howes.