Remembering a Magic Dragon
Returning to Honah Lee
Puff the Magic Dragon was released when I was 6 years old. I, of course, have no memory of that exact moment in history, but the song has imprinted itself on my heart and continues to stir my soul as I speed through my late 60’s.
The song has always moved me emotionally, especially that moment when the song takes a turn:
One gray night it happened, Jackie Paper came no more
And Puff, that mighty dragon, he ceased his fearless roar
His head was bent in sorrow, green scales fell like rain
Puff no longer went to play along the cherry lane
Without his lifelong friend, Puff could not be brave
So Puff, that mighty dragon, sadly slipped into his cave
I’m 67 years old, for heavens sake, and I still hear those words in my head and want to cry.
As a child, and still as an adult, the thought of that once mighty dragon slipping sadly, all alone, into his cave, his head bent in sorrow, is a gut punch. Such simple, yet evocative words!
As soon as I hear those familiar opening guitar chords, that comfortable place in my left-brained room slips away and I’m in my swimming in the emotions of the song.
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Sadly, a rumor took off suggesting that Puff, the Magic Dragon, is about smoking pot. For most of his life, Peter Yarrow, of Peter, Paul, and Mary, who wrote the music to lyrics written by a friend, Leonard Lipton, tried to set the record straight.
Lipton says this about the song:
I think Puff, the Magic Dragon is about a little boy and a dragon… I think there are strong parallels between the story told in the song and Peter Pan. You’ve got Jackie Paper, you’ve got Wendy. You’ve got Honah Lee, you’ve got Neverland and you’ve got pirates. Puff sadly declines in his cave, which reminds me of Tinker Bell needing to be revived. There are parallel elements, and the theme is similar. Peter Pan is a boy who won’t grow up, and believe me, I don’t blame him. Jackie Paper, though, does grow up and so leaves Puff.
The song, according to Yarrow, is about innocence lost. A child moving from his or her imaginary world into the real world, and sadly, often leaving behind the joy of innocence. The Biblical story of the Garden of Eden uses different metaphors to make the same point. Part of the human story is the leaving behind of childhood and learning to navigate the world as adults. And again, sadly, as happened with Adam and Eve, we get so caught up in the vulnerabilities and nakedness of life that we miss the garden around us.
And perhaps that’s what also moves me now, at the age of 67, in this song. The grief and loss Puff experiences, yes. But the grief and loss we often experience as we leave behind our Honah Lee’s for adulthood.
A dragon lives forever, but not so little boys
Painted wings and giant's rings make way for other toys
One gray night it happened, Jackie Paper came no more…
Puff reminds us that imagination and childlikeness are still important in our adult worlds. We still need dragons and hobbits and river elves and magic wands. Jesus called it child-like faith—living with openness and curiosity.
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In 2012 Yarrow and Lipton released a Puff the Magic Dragon book. It’s a beautifully illustrated retelling of the story. I won’t ruin the moving ending, but it has something to do with Puff living on!
Peter, Paul, and Mary, tweaked the song years later in two ways:
A dragon lives for ever, but not so little girls and little boys…
And, profoundly
Puff, the Magic Dragon, lives by the sea (Present Tense!) and frolics in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee!
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I first met Noel Paul Stookey in 1984. I was a young pastor and the first concert we booked at our church was Noel and his Bodyworks Band. I lost track of how many times we had Noel back, and of how many times Jan and I had the chance to see PP&M in concert and then head backstage to spend a few moments with him. During at least one of those backstage meet and greets we got a chance to meet Peter, who passed away last week (and Mary, as well).
Puff has been, and continues to be, a song that visits me often, and a welcome visitor at that.