by Adam B. Shaeffer

I have seen the ice drag­on rise
glis­ten­ing and glittering
from the depths of the west­ern sea.

I have seen the rust­ing hulks
our fore­fa­thers left us
pow­er still thrum­ming through met­al limbs.

I have seen the wolf­man shift
and slide from man to beast
and from beast to night­mare crowned as king.

I have seen man’s man­gled body
made whole
sewn and bound with threads of light.

I have seen you, my son,
nuz­zling your head into my chest,
con­tent to let me hold you as you sleep.

And that is the mag­ic that stirs my soul,
no less pow­er­ful for being common,
no less beau­ti­ful for being simple,
no less won­drous for being true.

Until 7th grade Adam B. Sha­ef­fer hat­ed read­ing, but in 7th grade he dis­cov­ered R.A. Salvatore's Driz­zt books. His nov­els were a gate­way drug of sorts and he’s been devour­ing fan­ta­sy and sci­ence fic­tion ever since. He’s been writ­ing reg­u­lar­ly for about 3 years and has com­plet­ed one nov­el, a half dozen short sto­ries (one of which was pub­lished in the June edi­tion of Res­i­den­tial Aliens), and a hand­ful of poems. He lives in South­ern Cal­i­for­nia with his wife and 8 month-old son.

Filed under: Jabberwocky 5