First of the Brave

Poem in English, written at Poesiaeuropa 2023

Into the mushroom clouds I go,
where Hades wept.
Where all men lost hope

again, and again, and again.
As was once foretold,
in a dream of fire, and ice, and endless, Ravenous Night,
all things fell apart.
All things died

and now, I am grown, at last.
I have only this left to realise:

all of us—
we are still here.
All of us survived.
All of us never perished.
All of us can still be brought back to Life.

Take my hand, terrified one.
I am not Malefor, or Rand al’Thor, or Lews Therin, or Daenerys. None
of those who came before. I am a different Dragon
on the run

toward you.
Toward every last human here, in every colour and hue:

this is our future, together.
Let’s make something better.
Something braver.
Something truly, and fully, and completely new.