Dragons All About Me

I had no time for fear or gladness.
I had no time for that which sings
In the breast of one who falls to madness.
I had no time for anything but the wings

Of a hundred, a thousand, a million more
Dragons all about me, wheeling around,
Their voices like songs that nevermore
Can be raised, for that one sound

Must linger, perfect, in midsummer air,
And never again grace a listener's ear,
For fear of making it one whit less fair,
And that would be something I would fear.

But I feared not then, as I said above.
I had no time for fear or duty.
I had no time for anything but love,
Love of the dragons and their wild beauty:

Red and blue and gold and green,
Diamond and emerald and pearl and sapphire,
Hues from the stars I have never seen,
But which glittered and sparkled then with fire-

Purple and orange and heart-stopping white,
The color of lights on the backs of shut eyes,
Black as the heart of dark-dreaming midnight,
Silver and gold and green as dew-dimmed sunrise.

Voices and colors, music and light tore me apart, 
And then they flew on, and left me behind,
Left me sobbing with joyous madness in my heart,
Left me with a torn soul and a shattered mind.