In The Hive Queen, it is said that extraordinarily beautiful SilkWings are often tasked with residing in the windows of HiveWing stores for the owners to show off as if they were trophies. This poem explores the mentality of one such SilkWing, living life from behind a windowpane.

- Shattered Glass -

Friends, lend me your ears, for my tale is far from plain;

Watching others live their lives from behind a windowpane.

Through my reflection and the glass my wondering eyes stare;

Though voices echo all around, there's loneliness in the air.

Striped dragons with their flowing garments, down the street they prance;

Passing by, offering me not but a judgemental glance.

I close my eyes and imagine myself in their place;

All the time in the world, close friends, and a smile on my face.

With rows of shops laid out before us, to which ones do we go?

Companionship is a reassurance I've always wanted to know.

I've never had my family, not even from the start;

Though I loathe them for my silver scales, soon to break my heart.

Others said, no doubt, my looks would benefit me soon;

Should my wings emerge as dazzling from the silk of my cocoon.

It's nothing but a curse, the beauty I've been given;

Turning what was once a bay window into my prison.

Though I'd never object my master for putting me on display;

Normal labor with other silk dragons would spare me from dismay.

Living as a spectacle is not a way to thrive;

If this is all life holds for me, why bother to survive?

What am I but a toy on a shelf, placed by a dragon of higher class?

As I stare at my reflection, I want to shatter my face like glass.

I need to escape, to spread my wings, to fly over the land;

I need to leave the place that weighs me down like bags of sand.

If sharp talons entered my head, cutting deeper than glares ever will;

Controlled by madness, they'd slice to my jaw, making red blood spill.

Then they'd see I'm truly nothing special on the inside;

My scales that glisten like mountains of silver could be easily denied.

The scars would snap the chains keeping me held up on this stage;

Saving me from a fruitless life, releasing me from this cage.

There I'd sit, an ordinary dragon, stripped of my beauty;

In truth, it's but a small price to pay to finally be free.