Dracoracle

You watch her as she

          peeks at you from the corners of

                    kaleidoscope eyes, through

                              that trailing veil of scarlet ivy.

You watch her as she

          ignites the sibyl's leaves,

                    drinks a bowl of smoldering sky,

                              reads the writing in the rings of ash

                                        in long-forgotten siren tongues.

You watch her as she

          breathes the shadows in like vapor, until

                    she is just a vision in the mist, until

                              at last, she emerges, a dragon.

And then, suddenly,

you remember to exhale.