Upon a Dragon’s Breath

Upon a Dragon’s Breath
(and the Persistence of Grace)

This existence
an enigma
A never ending search
for perfection
all wrapped up
in a shroud of destruction
From a mirror shattered
humanity’s bloodied
and battered reflection

There’s a toxic cloud
in mass production
suffocating
A slow seduction
locked in the arms
of a downhill spiral
Life and death
riding the trail
upon a dragon’s breath

Death or life
within a dragon’s breath
Scaling the heights
plunging the depths
Somewhere
between fear and hope
a relationship
of love and hate
upon a prayer wheel of fate
Rocking the road trip
aboard a sinking ship
on a magical swirling trip
Like the warm embrace
from a lingering wraith
forever searching
for a landing strip

The fall out
of trouble and strife
the twist and shout
The seesaw
within a revolving door
God only knows
What’s it all about?
You gotta give me more
before I’m out for the count
What exactly
are we here for?

Living the bread
with the quick
and the dead
The cold earth calls me
It’s gravity heavy
… heavy like lead
As the soul is stripped
and the body bled
Sliding off the scale
onto a mortuary slab
Trying hard not to inhale
that dragon’s breath

Life or death
upon a dragon’s breath
Dust off my shoes
locked and loaded
with those earth bound blues
Where nothing is ever enough
Leaving far behind
the rust and burnt crust
of the deaf and the blind
by the choices they choose
when love is a bust
A broken heart to bind
with a final thrust
of pills and booze

The short and the tall
But what of the very small
who had no choice?
No choice at all
Lost in the nursery crime
of space and time
since innocence took the fall
and pride learnt to crawl
across the keyboard
of your mind
Held tight in a trance
like the fiery embrace
of a dragon’s breath

Holiness defiled
like trash in a can
Truth defined by those
who don’t understand
Four sheets to the wind
as the sins of the wolf
smeared onto the lamb
As if by plan
Truth found guilty
for not making a stand
A gun still smoking
in the deceiver’s hand
Fake good news flowing
throughout the land
It’s length and breadth
tainted with that stench
of a dragon’s breath

Is it Truth?
How clearly do I see?
“God is Love”…
the word that I’ve heard
keeps on telling me
Even to love my nearest
and dearest worst enemy
Your words of love
like a regal hand
holding a Royal Flush
May that first
taste of grace
that lingers from birth
not be a waste
Like all the hot air
of a dragon’s breath

This broken existence
always in crisis
Always seeking an exit
The peril existential
Never forget
true grit
is in the Spirit
That pearl of great price
beyond all flesh
taken with persistence
on the insistence of faith
With all mercy and grace
fulfilling the void
of your personal space
Between a rock
and a hard place
that Kingdom within
Life is for living
Breathe it in

Surrender
or resistance?
Beyond sugar and spice
Held firm in the vice
of some religious device
and all things men call
… Paradise
No comparison
to the Garden of Creation
Submission to superstition
and iron age tradition
should never be
the only option
in a nation
where the worst curse
is in motion
No night flight
to Jerusalem
The Den of Thieves
is back in town
Yet the door of peace
is always open
Going into orbit
and breaking free
of this world’s
heavy duty gravity

For the children of light
the light years
but an excursion
The Regal in full flight
upon the wings of an eagle
Empowered by the might
of a love resurrection

Death and life
overcoming the strife
Life and death
and all the rest
Unity in creation
Heaven blessed
Living this life
upon the crest
of a Holy breath

A cool change coming
in the light of morning
Lighter than air
and under full sail
I’m on love’s trail
I’m over that big dry kiss
The kiss of betrayal
Getting with the Spirit
The Highest
and the Most
The toast of humankind
Jesus Christ
The host
of this very existence
With that scent of grace
exclusively heaven sent
Godly
Richness
At
Christ’s
Expense
Goodness graciousness
Born upon a heavenly breath

~ by David B. Redpath © 2017-2020

Angelica saved by Ruggiero’
~ by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres

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‘St. Michael’ ~ by Raphael

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‘St. Michael Vanquishing Satan’
~ by Raphael

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‘St. George’ ~ by Raphael

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Photography:
David B. Redpath © 2017-2020

85 thoughts on “Upon a Dragon’s Breath”

    1. Thank you very much, Susan.
      I guess some good has come
      from all the years of rerouting
      neural pathways.
      Not to mention those
      dearly departed brain cells
      … so I won’t mention them.

      Susan, I am
      a great admirer of your writing,
      and your courage in the telling.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  7. This is so complex, as your poems often are. It would require quite some effort to comment on all significant points. It’s a pity i won’t do it justice. It is so existentially riddled! Love the questions posed.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  8. The part where you talk of true grit is in the spirit. It is that need for discomfort. We hate discomfort and seek the opposite. But without it, we don’t move. In general. 🙌👏

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    Reply

      1. Interesting. Love when someone revives Plato. Next time my perfection drive kicks in, I will remember this. And that reminds me of a classic, now cliche, Nietzsche’s quote about needing chaos for a star to be born! We seek perfection but chaos can create perfection or order or beauty, in some ways. I’m learning to let chaos drive the horses sometimes.

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Stephen Hawking pointed out
        the need for some disordered
        chaos in the universal creative process.
        And Pablo Picasso stated
        that “creation is destruction”.
        Hopefully in an artistic fashion.

        Like

  9. Living the bread… The earth calling you. There is so much just here. I can read the influence of righteousness and the church. Being a good citizen and living the rat race life. Well, at least this is my reading. You are very very talented. Glad to have “met” (ha, the virtual world) you.

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    1. I think any self respecting church would
      have put a fatwa out on me. After being
      excommunicated by the Hell’s Angels
      for being less than 1% pure. At least they
      can’t get me in cyberspace. So we are
      safe here, Luiza . . . I think?

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. Hahhaha i don’t have the sarcastic gene so it’s hard to tell how much of it is banter and how much of it is true?! Haha. Why not? Being a saint or a sinner. We all are. Ha cyperspace. Funny, I’ve been seeing the world from the alien spectacles.. And this fits well, for the virtual world is where alien meat, meets. 🙌🖖

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Luiza, I fix a pair of Alien
        Ray Ban Wayfarers to my
        face with a spirit level.
        Keeps them firmly in place,
        when blasting off to
        cyberspace … and beyond.

        Like

      1. Yes, I have gathered that you use a lot of artwork in a very interesting way.
        It is always a pleasure to read your works, though I must admit my simple brain takes time to understand all the allusions to music, physics, myths and the like.

        Liked by 1 person

  12. This is the third time I’ve read this poem. You’re a gifted writer, but that’s not why I came back. It touched my heart. It’s beautiful — the entire poem, the photographs, the love and anguish for your friend. I’m glad he’s going to be okay. I walked that path, came back into the light too. It changes a person. To have someone witness this terrifying time with such eloquence; to know they are willing to be open to pain with you; to know they’ll walk with you through it all — that must have been such a gift to your friend. And now this poem is a gift to everyone. Thank you. ♥.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    1. Thanks for that Niki.
      Yes, my friend is now much
      improved, from what was a
      dire forcast.
      I know you’ve been through
      much, in this rich and tangled
      tapestry called life, so I greatly
      appreciate your comments, Niki.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    1. Thank you very much, Aruna.
      The pictures were taken from all oved
      the place. Most of the paintings I
      found at the Louvre in Paris🗼😎
      But some of the religious pics were
      taken in Spain.

      Like

      Reply

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