What should a dragon look like
whose myth should we believe?
Western myth has them dark green
plausible giant lizards with wings
Oriental Dragons scarcely feature wings
but writh through the skies like golden smoke
Tolkien’s Smaug rains fire from the sky
in revenge for a small burglar of his golden hoard
Chinese dragons do not hoard, but dispense good fortune
benevolently, celestial controllers of weather for good harvests
Chinese dragons’ benevolence is claimed as ancestral by emperors
dark dragons lurk in the empty spaces at the edge of Western consciousness
Whose myth should we believe
– what should a dragon look like?
© Andrew Wilson, 2025
Over at dVerse Poets Pub, Lisa or Li in Poetics invites us to write about Legendary Creatures. I should remind you that I am an Old Dragon – a former pupil at The Dragon School, Oxford…
Indeed.. the difference is as large as we could ever imagine, yet they share some features of strength, claws and scales.
I wonder where the idea of dragons first originated – East or west?
I fully agree! Which version of the dragon should we believe.
Thanks Sadje, I have long pondered these differences…
You’re welcome ☺️
Gorgeous write, Andrew. Especially love; “Oriental Dragons scarcely feature wings but writh through the skies like golden smoke.” ❤️
Thanks Sanaa, the Chinese painters of dragons don’t seem so constrained by biological possibilities…
I like the Chinese dragons. I think they are really thunderstorms with lightning fire and dark cloud wet smoke!!
I like both representations, Dwight…
Andrew, I appreciate your take on dragons and their culture-dependent depictions. How one regards them is dependent on their knowledge and beliefs. You covered a lot of bases in your poem on how they are viewed and how they act.
Thanks, Li, it was a fun prompt…
I imagine dragons have taken many forms throughout history. I enjoyed your depiction of the possibilities.
Thanks, Sherry…
I so love dragon stories and poems. I appreciate Tolkien’s Smaug, but I’m much more receptive of the asian positivity. In regard to your poem, I love the question, what should a dragon look like, it leaves me space to imagine.
“Chinese dragons’ benevolence is claimed as ancestral by emperors
dark dragons lurk in the empty spaces at the edge of Western consciousness”
I like the Chinese dragons!
Claws Rank / Association Key Region
Five Imperial (Emperor) China (Ming/Qing dynasties)
Four Nobility / High Official China, Okinawa, sometimes Korea
Three Common People / General Use Early China, Japan, Korea, popular art
Looking at a dragon’s claws in traditional East Asian art is like looking at military insignia—it tells you the dragon’s (and by extension, the object’s owner’s) rank in the cosmic and social order.
Thanks for the classification, Shaun – I did not know that…