Horizon Drake

Its golden frame is soaring through the sky,
Much higher than the grasp of bush or hedge,
It effortlessly spreads its wings to fly
Beyond the reach of far horizon’s edge.

Its shadow marks its path on waves below,
Between the islands where its prey convene,
With certainty, this creature seems to know
The secret places we have never seen.

Confined like clouds to their eternal cell,
But safe from earth-bound storms and floods and quakes,
If fate was kind or cruel, it’s hard to tell,
When thinking of the strange, Horizon Drakes.

Like mother bears who keep their cubs too near,
The sky itself will hold the drakes aloft.
Though I suspect that from the clouds they sneer,
As if they gazed upon the ground, and scoffed.

Some live whole lives above the rocks and sand,
And I have seen the things they shun each day.
The drakes forsake the trappings of the land,
And doubtless, they prefer to live that way.