A Little Dragon

Martha has a little dragon

And its name is Miss Lenore

Martha loves her little dragon

But Miss Lenore is quite the bore

She refuses to set fire

To the things that Martha loathes

Miss Lenore’s no fan of arson

And, in fact, she dreams of one day

Being a firefighter

Even though Martha

Tells her that’s absurd

Miss Lenore, says Martha,

Won’t you set fire to my school?

So that I can stay home in bed

And watch The Money Door?

The Money Door is Martha’s favorite game show

One door has money

One does not

Miss Lenore deplores The Money Door

And tells Martha she should be studying

Instead of trying to get her little dragon

To set fire to her school

Someone, says Miss Lenore,

Could get very hurt

Or worse

Not if you do it on a Saturday, says Martha

Or a Sunday night

The right time and everything will be fine

With only ashes left behind

Martha, Martha, says Miss Lenore

That’s enough, now stop

No more

Martha has a little dragon

But the dragon

Never flies

Take me up into the clouds

Says Martha to Miss Lenore

I want to fly above my friends

And their houses

And their cars

I’m afraid of heights, says Miss Lenore

So I couldn’t take you very far

Besides, she says, I’m sure someone

Would probably shoot me down

You can’t just go a-flying

Like a pilot

Over town

I’d need to get a permit

Or a license

Something saying

That I could

Oh Miss Lenore, says Martha

I do wish you weren’t so good

Martha means it

It seems pointless

To have a dragon

Who won’t breathe fire

Or fly

Or scare Martha’s teachers
Or her brother

Or her mother

She won’t let Martha climb on her

To slip and slide along her scales

Climbing in her mouth is out as well

‘If I sneeze,’ says Miss Lenore

‘I’m afraid you’d be impaled’

Miss Lenore tries telling Martha

‘Look both ways’ and--

‘Eat your greens’

‘I thought,’ said Martha

‘That you’d eat whole cows

Plucked from fields

Scooped into your talons

And gobbled down your gullet!’

But Miss Lenore just shakes her head

‘I am,’ she says, ‘Just a little dragon

‘I simple couldn’t eat that way’

So she sticks to chard and celery

And keeps refusing to obey

Martha wishes that her dragon

Was like the kind she sees in books

But Miss Lenore, though quite a bore,

Did have other things in store

At night, she’d tuck in Martha

Then read her stories of knights and kings

And when the lights were off

She’d sit in Martha’s bedroom window

Whistling out to wishing stars

Do you ever make a wish, asks Martha

What would I wish for, asks Miss Lenore

To be a bigger dragon, Martha suggests

I guess I could wish for that, says Miss Lenore

Chewing the idea

Then sneezing it away

Charring the curtains a bit

And sending Martha right into a fit

Go to sleep, says Miss Lenore

Dream of all those bigger dragons

That I’m not

Martha can see that Miss Lenore

Was hurt by the idea

That she should wish for something more

‘Come here,’ says Martha

Pushing aside the covers

And patting her pillow

‘I can’t,’ says Miss Lenore,

‘I have to keep watch

So the stars don’t get ideas’

‘Just for a minute,’ says Martha,

‘Until I fall asleep’

Miss Lenore grumbles

But then floats into bed

Tucking the covers

Over her and Martha’s head

‘Will you be my little dragon forever,’ asks Martha

And Miss Lenore says, ‘Of course’

She covers Martha with her wing

And Martha smells smoke and lavender

A wind comes in from the window

And a star gets a big idea

Martha wishes her little dragon a lovely good night

And Miss Lenore waits until her little girl is asleep

Before she winks at the window

And, ready to fly,

She stretches her wings

And goes into the sky