A Wood Dragon's Cosmology
by Michael Doyle

The time spent quietly comes to its end
It's been another year of pleasant enough living
Having found my best habits and friends
And it has been another year of peacefully giving

But in truth it has been yet another year gone past
As yet, the new one worries some as it begins
We prepare to sail this journey before the mast
And my eyes mist up as I steadily study the winds

We've arrived at the Year of the Wood Dragon
It arrives with the mists of a morning's gentle rain
It is a spring's mist that comforts my imagination
I look forward with peace on the future it contains

It brings rise to a weary world's natural confidence
It arrives with creative determination spent in diffidence
Almost infinite in its self-worth, it comes with diplomacy
Like life's tree reaches for the sky and builds its legacy

This is the fifth of the 12-year-long cycle of cosmology
With its five elements serving as a balanced philosophy
The green dragon brings forth both expansion and power
While we chase our dreams past the turn of the hour

The dragon is an emblem of benevolent divinity
It is the nature deity that dominates Chinese mythology
The dragon is the most desired of the Chinese bestiary
Through its rebirth, it comes as a self-fulfilling prophecy

Dragons rise and phoenixes take to their flight
Bringing rain to the earth's center through the night
It is the fifth cardinal direction bringing a perfect harmony
Let us rest between the yin and the yang for all of eternity

(c) February 9, 2024   Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved