Prompt: Write a poem from the viewpoint of one person/animal/thing from Hieronymous Bosch’s triptych The Garden of Earthly Delights.
My father was a dragon
My mum a gray giraffe
If you chance to see me
Please try not to laugh
The speckles ’round my collar
To my toes do not extend
Nor are they a scaly skin
Against foes to defend
The pointed horns atop my crown
Match not my fleshy beak
One is bold and fearsome
The other dull and weak
Beady eyes and cloven hooves
A posterior too small
For chestbones broad and bulky
This ungulate’s downfall
And so I isolate by day
No stash of gold to hoard
No trees o’erhead with leafy boughs
To munch when I am bored
Those who know my parents say
There’s no more loving pair
But to be genetic evidence
Of that love isn’t fair
And yet my head’s held high to boast
My purpose and my pride
All dragons’ sons know their true worth
Lies deep, deep, safe inside
