Sometimes it was a palace
Of gossiping cortesians
Ruled by a queen
With an army of rough men at her influence
A palace from which I, the demon,
Was forbidden to enter
A place of shared lunchables and rubber bangles
While I was relegated to chasing bugs
And swinging through branches

At other times, it was a prison
Guarded by four of the new queen's men
While they sat counting poker chips of bark
I sat plotting an escape
I could dash out and outlast any man
But in a confined land
They'd intersect my path, given long enough
And every time
They'd drag me back under by my coat sleeves
Kicking and shouting

And other times
When no one else was out
And the grounds were as silent as a winter's night
And the queen and her men were in the city
Arguing ranking amongst lords and ladies
I would be out on the parapets
Turning the fortress
Into my domain
A perch with a view of the whole kingdom
A castle owned by the wild dragon

Now I walk up to it
And watch the children upon it
And I remember my time
As a demon
A prisoner
And a fierce, unbridled dragon