Hymn of Dragon and Phoenix
Jorge Gonzalez-Romo
Oh, scorching one,
you inhale
only to breathe words
Your speech,
a burning lay,
is sung with a blaze.
In the West, those
who speak Latin
call you “Draco,”
and “Wyrm,” in the
cold regions of
Northern Europe.
The man who is both
a bear and a wolf
killed one of your kind.
The Geats immortalized
his heroic deeds in the Song of Beowulf.
If only they knew
that Asclepius
caries a snake
in his staff,
believing you hold
medical properties
in your fangs.
Oh, if only the ancients
could see you in the
New World, and how
in Mexico, you were revered as the
Feathered Serpent,
crowned with the
plumage of a quetzal,
[7]
H