The Dragon, a story.

[Frank The Plumber]

Each of us must face the Dragon, to each a Dragon of their own.

A fine young man stood upon the plateau within the visions of his mind. Youthful new and untested he awaits life's discoveries. he walks forward into life towards the mouth of a great and ominous cave. Within his new minds eye it seems draped in ruin and carnage and may seem to hold the broken dreams of those who ventured there before him. he perceives the smell of possible failure in the air and to him it is a foul and uninviting stench. Within his mind are images of dispair, death and the burdens that failure may bring unto him.
he is full of fear, it appears as sweat on his small young face and rolls down and into his eyes burning them. his knees struggle for the power to hold him upright firm and steady. his heart beats as if a drum of war, harder and faster and louder, feeding the mounting fury of the unknown moment ahead.
And then he has the realization that he is not alone. There is another drum beat, louder it grows, it graduates as it approaches. Louder, then louder, then louder yet still. Slowly pounding, unlike his own.

At the cave mouth appears the Dragon. his Dragon.

Of all of the things he could ever imagine he could never have known that it could ever appear in this way. his fear so great he could not so much as move the tongue within his mouth that gives him so much as a sound. his chest so tight he could only struggle to gain one breath.
And there it stood, all that he ever feared all he could ever imagine he could ever fear, looking down upon him with a look of great and determined confidence.

Within his mind his thoughts raced, every fabric of his being seeking justification for this moment, every fabric of his being in the struggle of life. Raise forth my sword and take down my Dragon or turn and run and live another day. Within his mind this struggle is an eternity and yet within seconds he has chosen to turn and run away.

he does not look back, he hears the haunting laughter of his Dragon. he does not dare look back. On this day he has lost. he has lost his first and most critical battle with his Dragon, he will face him again many more times.

Time passes on, it always does, it maybe shall.

Another day upon the plateau....and again he runs away. he reasons that if he avoids the beast that all will turn out fine. he does not yet understand that the plateau he is running upon is the field of his life. All he knows is that there is a beast upon this land and he runs away and feels better, he does not yet know that each encounter has been a moment in the journey that sculpts the Man he will or will not be. he is under the influence of the poor plan that surviving is well enough.

Time passes on, it always does, it sometimes shall.

As he grows older his life is not fulfilling all of what he had thought one day that it may have been. his encounters with his Dragon are fewer now as he ages, his opportunity less to ever prove he could stand before Him. he realizes that he is no longer the young man, he is beginning to understand the landscape of the plateau and the consequences of all of his flights.
he is starting to ponder how very different life may have been for him had he faced his Dragon and not been so quick to run away. he decides it is critical that he stand firm and face the Beast at his next opportunity.

Time passes on, it always does, it always shall.

he is no longer the young man, but he now has his new chance. The field never changes, the Dragon always does, sometimes He is enormous and sometimes He is fierce, today He seems rather subdued, vulnerable, perhaps today the Dragon is weak . And so he makes his move.  he lunges forward and captures the moment and conquers his fears.
Today He is victorious.

There lay His dragon. He has conquered this great beast. He looks him over proudly. His dragon has just a hint of breath from which he seeks to speak. The dragon says come closer for i must confide something to You. Trust me i will not harm You. He leans in to hear the last words of His dragon and as He does through the mist of what had been his own ignorance He notices it is not so large. As He moves in closer He realizes that it is not such a beast, but only a small creature the size of a house cat lying before Him.

The great dragon speaks to him. "i was always only this small easily surmountable creature, You have wasted Your life's opportunities running away from me." Gasping his last breaths, the small creature can only whisper......."i was your life"......and the creature fades away.

This can not be the Man thinks to himself. This makes no sense, how can this be. He has lived His life in fear and now He is liberated from this fear and He thinks to Himself I shall now make a difference. There was a young girl whom He had cared for many a year ago in the small village through the valley, He would go to find her. He now has the courage to make her His bride.

Several days journey He travels to the village. He arrives to ask of her whereabouts. She is the old woman who lives in the meadow says a passer by. Old Woman He thinks, this can not be. He goes and does find her home, He does knock upon her door. She answers, there is greeting, there is remembrance, there will be some happiness from this journey.

He reflects upon the days. The days that could have been. He must forget them now and live in within His time.

Time always passes, it always does, and so shall we.

Go forth and catch your dragon each and every day.

[shatanka]

That was very interesting, Frank! There is a certain allegory I took from this being that we should face our fears and live our lives, or else our life passes. I love this line " You have wasted Your life's opportunities running away from me." Gasping his last breaths, the small creature can only whisper......."i was your life"!  Boy, I sure can relate to this! Excellent writing and very eloquent!

[Mir]

Nice story! Very interesting...