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Dark Poetry #4
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young_blood
Senior Member
since 2003-09-19
Posts 1115
Indianapolis, IN

0 posted 2003-11-28 09:47 PM


first off let me say that any spelling mistakes are probably because i have to spell things wrong to get around my computer filter.
a hopelessness has been drilled into his head,
telling him that the invaders were monsters.
this boy has been taought to the gaizin*,
but these kichiku** fighters came to be liberators.
poor boy from a belittled country
so full of superstition and tradition.
all he wants is to know the way
of the samurai that will supercede his affliction.
a young man of fifteen, just a boy really,
looking to bring his home honor forever.
he's faced with a decision that he
shouldnt have ever had to discover.
sitting on a coral reef,
he contemplates his fate.
he could run and surrender to the gaizin*,
but then he would never be considered great.
he fears the choice that he
has been programmed to choose.
to take his life is "to gain much",
but to run is synonymous with lose.
he dips his ankles into the shallow water,
still feeling the pull to run away.
no one wants to meet deth,
every teenage boy wants to greet another day.
he makes up his mind to die for "honor",
to show that he is the man his father wanted.
he lays face down on the foaming ocean,
the sea fills his ears making sounds stunted.
breathing in deeply the water
that will make him a shinmin*** ghost-an honored spirit.
with every gasp of inhaled liquid,
his fortitude weakens and slips- he can feel it.
so close to , so far from a life,
he breaks, he fights to live.
poor boy, poor child of the rising sun,
at only fifteen, you gave all you had to give.
i can still see the young boys body
floating atop the water for several long moments,
then the body thrashed to stay alive,
but it was too late, he died to escape me, his opponent.
just a young boy of a samurai house,
trying to act so brave and old.
poor boy laying in violent sea
thanks to the words he was told.

*gaizin-means outsider in japanese
**kichiku-means invader in japanese
***shinmin-means follower of the god-emperor in japanese

now im alone, but not lonely like before

© Copyright 2003 Alex Lewis - All Rights Reserved
WildPoet
Member
since 2003-11-10
Posts 205
California
1 posted 2003-12-01 02:19 PM


Nice glimpse into another frame of mind.

WildPoet

River
Senior Member
since 2003-09-16
Posts 627
my own little world
2 posted 2003-12-01 10:05 PM


hey, I love this... it is soooo great, I want to see the movie "The last Samurai" when it comes out, are you? this is a sad but often true story...(I know, my ex-boyfriend is from Japan) and i think it's really good. ok, enough of my babbling =). have a groovy day.

   - River

Love hurts as bad as it feels good.

River
Senior Member
since 2003-09-16
Posts 627
my own little world
3 posted 2003-12-01 10:08 PM


*returns and adds this to library*
young_blood
Senior Member
since 2003-09-19
Posts 1115
Indianapolis, IN
4 posted 2003-12-02 04:59 PM


thanks alot everyone, this is based on a tru story from ww2. i read about it in the book Flyboys.
-alex

now im alone, but not lonely like before

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