Smaug is sleeping
in a cave
opposite the check-in
at Wellington Airport.

A small child
moves too close
and catches the amber-yellow eye.
What do those parents
at the travel-desk
imagine is going to happen next?

Travel: it’s a bit like time
with the future
in another nation state of amnesia;
and like neglected luggage
this child’s future
home land and sea
may already be stolen.

Smaug exhales
if dragons live forever
this one’s future
in surveillance is very promising.

Finely accented
almost polite
with an inner voice snarling
in caves of civilised darkness

Surrounded by treasure
piled in twinkling heaps:
cell and smart phones
bankcards with name and address

Smaug is not sleeping
and our future
is forfeit
to the scaly red
hand of a thief.