The Broadway Dragon

One long hot day in summer, for no apparent reason
the street we knew as Broadway turned into a dragon.
A giant concrete beast with glass and steel scales
Her neon eyes downtown, the east side was her tail.
She stretched and shook the earth; the sidewalks cracked
Wide bridgework-girder wings unfolded from her back.

Cars were strewn this way and that. Buildings tumbled down.
The dragon's wings-- so vast, so slow-- overshadowed the town.
The downdraft wrecked a bus as she took flight
amazed, we stood and watched as she flew out of sight.

No-one ever saw the Broadway dragon again.
But underfoot, on hot summer days
we watch for cracks in asphalt and pray
O God, keep these street dragons far from men.