Saint George's Dream

[Miles Goetz]

Saint George heard the virgin oaks
In the wind, his fire alive with the enemy’s spirit,
Yet he is soon to slumber, put beneath the
Banner of courage, divinity trapped in steel and bronze.

Across the theater of dream he recalls the beast,
Squamous, stretching from Lydia to Numidia, bathed
In sulfur and blood. Across the plain lay forgotten a thousand
Sons and brothers, mouths agape from the holy terror.

Valiant deed before paradise seeped in flame, he rides
His mare, sword of his kin, bearing the cipher
Of damnation for the beast, not even ambivalent as
The gods, who foretold his destruction.

The heavens fell; gods superseded by one man’s valor!
He slayed the spawn of the Styx, the body an amalgam
Of horror, as if in the carnage of forms beauty thrived truest,
Taking the sight through visions unknown even to Virgil.

The wood rustled not a tither, in the reprisal of sunlight.
Saint George took to the sight of the sea, bound for
Glory, not to know the myth of his act, only to
Act as a spirit straying from the soil.

[Silas Thorne]

I rather like this, for the boldness and style of the thing. It doesn't matter whether if it has archaic diction, if that's your purpose. And it matches the subject well. Good work!
I don't think most people would know what squamous means though, or choose to use it. Perhaps everyone else knows what it means and not me.
I was wondering too, if slayed should be slew?

[Miles Goetz]

Thank you very much! Yes, I do admit it is a tad dated, but my poetry alternates.
Thanks again, Silas Thorne.