Purple Dragons

“Daddy! Daddy!
How do bullets fly,
Like stars at night
As they shoot across the sky,
If they have no wings
Like the purple dragons in my dreams
Who fly me across the world
To places I’ve never seen?”

“Baby”, her father said,
Resting fingers atop her head.

“Bullets fly like stars at night
Because the hearts of men give them invisible wings.

Invisible things,
For which it seems,
Make hate glide effortlessly
Like the purple dragons within your dreams.
Even though purple dragons don’t make you scream,
Dancing around your room,
Playfully, like cartoons,
In ways you’ve only seen.
Remember to pray before you dream
As I send you off to bed.
I love you precious angel.
Sweet dreams,” he said as he kissed her head.

Scampering up the stairs
Four year old Nikki had no fears,
Had no tears,
Because purple dragons were near
This night
Ready to take flight
Beyond the stars,
Beyond the scars of this land of ours,
To a place of endless bliss
Like her fathers kiss
Which sent her at first to sleep.
He sat in thoughts of deep,
Weeping.
‘The mind of such a little girl
In a complex world,
With its big scary monsters,
Is truth inexplicable,
Reflections of a pearl.’

At 3am while the night sky
Sparkled like a firefly,
Fire flies,
Fighting with the princess night light
As the nines sight
Mistakenly focused on Nikki’s minds eye,
When time died,
Forcing the purple dragons in her dream
To carry her off forever
To a place she’s never seen.
Never dreamed.
Which her daddy can’t believe.
Putting one in his .22
Deciding it too
Was his time to leave.