Dragon Dream Words by Edward LauterbachOld Smaug lay in his cave, asleep Spread out like giant, earthern hummock, And pawed the gold and jewels he loved And clutched them tightly to his stomach. The ancient dragon stretched his leg And dreamed that many men would die; He grumbled loudly to himself Then slowly opened up one eye. He snorted curls of smoke and fire, With bale glow in his eyes; and old, He twitched and shook his scaly skin And snuggled near his heaps of gold. Smaug loved to wallow in these gems, To feel the silver rub his side, To have the golden rings and crowns Nestled next his underside! Still half-awake and half-asleep Bold Smaug looked round his secret cave, To pierce the dark that pressed on him Like heavy, liquid, endless wave; He hissed and spewed forth bolts of flame To light his cave with fiery gloam, And coiled his tail about his hoard, And searched each cranny of his home. But nothing moved or made a sound, And all was quiet, all was dark, Smaug was content and all alone, All comfortless and cold and stark! So, with a grunt Smaug shut his eyes, And thought that he would always keep His gold and jewels and diadems, And yawned, and then, returned to sleep. Smaug dreamed the dreams that dragons dream, Of burning buildings, killing men, Of stealing gold and precious jewels, Then swiftly flying to his den. He twitched again and scratched his wing With his hind leg, like monstrous cat, And flexed the muscles of his neck, And snored like some gigantic bat. And Smaug dreamed dragons live forever; Countless years they live, so long; They never die. In darkened cave Old Smaug dreamed on -- but Smaug was wrong!
