the bracket

It's been awhile since I felt the crouched dragon visit. She was a pathetic curved spine. Matter comprised from my ribcage. She took much of it. The feeling of being shielded, protected that when I lay on my back I had to cover my belly with my hands. She feeds off of me as much as I think I need to protect her. She crouches in my gut and knocks on my chest. I do not want to face her, she makes me afraid of the contents. Sometimes the pain gathers toward the moon. I let her out once for a night walk. We paced around the block until the car sounds drove her inside. I thought she was my reflection. She was skeletal and shadows capping over eyes. Now that I step back I can hear that she can be free. She is really a dragon with folded wings. Dragons are a source of power. If she leaps out into the sky she can turn transparent or convert to an element like fire or water. She is invincible. Inadvertently a sort of structure that made up my own spine. I thought I'd collapse without her. Now I can live without her and she becomes more than mumbling slothing motions. She could even have been a tree animating my limbs. I stretch my arms out and feel the spaces and their silence. I feel a breath that cools the loud racing summer night.