Classic Poem

To guard my body from the blight of age
I scoured those heights where magic simples thrive
By breath-control, by drafts of powdered jade,
Within my breast a new Me came alive.

I grew immortal, coaxed a team of dragons
To wear my harness so that I might ride
The roll of thunder while, through whirling clouds,
White lightnings flickered from their scaly hide.

I dropped the reins of the charioteer of the sun
And stamped my foot to open heaven's gate
Like some small horse's hoofprint filled with water
The ocean gleamed below me, and the great
Hunch of the world's most sky-assaulting mountain
Lay like an anthill in a shaven park.

Enormous sadness filled me as I watched
Earth's aimless turning in an empty dark.