Marble dragon

floating quietly

strong, enduring

I feel out

measures of its stone face

smooth, anciently smooth,

Cuts

sharp corners of its basalt man

run jagged lines down its spine

its back runs

falls through the clouds

soft, misty clouds

gray-white, with knowing rain

He says nothing

looks at me

milky globes

discerning

peering

into me

nostrils flare

like Ming cannons

power

and restraint

stone hewn balance

carved

cleaved from time

out of the mountains

A White Dragon.