The night around me shrouds
As I stare past mushrooms
Exuding little blue clouds

The babbling fountain spills
Water flowing over rocks
Never quite making it down grassy hills

Golden flecks have me mesmerized
Floating upward
Toward the starry skies

Within the dancing golden specks
I see pictures long since gone
Ones that perplex.

I see myself there
My crown, my face,
My black and white hair

Facing me is a dark cold wood
Would I intentionally travel there?
Not if I could.

And from this wood a dragon springs
A fearsome sapphire beast
Spreading its wings.

A maw opens wide to engulf me in flame
I nearly buckle in fear
Before I think of my name.

A broken circle it turns out not to be
Unfinished? No.
No mangled destiny.

It grows and it shines
Leather straps and gold plates replace
Those offset and saddening lines

A shield from the fire hot
Everything around me burns
But I do not.

It is soon that I notice them laying at my feet
The names of my friends
Safe from the heat.

The dragon backs away in fear
My voice resounding
“You are not welcome here!”

The dream ends
With me returning
To embrace my safe friends

I awake with a start
A quickened beating
My warmed heart

A dream to tell me the power I wield
No sword, no spear
Only a mighty shield

Not really as literal as my fantasy shows
A metaphor, a simile
You know how it goes.

My job here has not changed
No sorrows no death
My life has not rearranged.

Since the beginning I have known
This place, these friends
I will protect my home.

My name is their shield.