Ayelet Schrek
10/21/09
A Block
Epic Poem
Values: The values in this poem include war, peace, wealth, ancestors/elders, skill, respect, hierarchy, and nature.
It so happened that in the Ancient land of
China, during the Zhou dynasty,
In a large and warring city,
A baby was born to a poor,
Inconsequential family.
His birth was short and easy,
And afterward, his mother cried
From relief, for she had always feared
Pain, and the birth had been simple,
And also because the child was a boy.
And she named this child An Wang,
Peaceful Wish,
For he had fulfilled her wish for a
Peaceful birth.
Two months after An Wang was born,
His father Jun, Truth,
Was slain in a feud with a rivaling neighbor city.
He screamed as he died, but his cries were drowned out by other sounds of
Death and blood and battle.
An Wang was raised by his Mother’s Father and his Mother’s Mother,
His Father’s Mother and his Mother.
An Wang grew up happy and slowly.
Outside of his house, the people, children and adults alike,
Were cruel, and the officers enforced the strict laws
Brutally, but in the shelter that was
His house, there was much laughter, and love.
An Wang was small for his age,
And quite average in his studies and skills.
He was gentle and helpful,
But no one cared about traits such as these.
What mattered was whether he could yoke an ox,
Or had an aptitude with the sword,
Which he did not.
He grew up in near obscurity,
Just another worthless child from a poor family.
And when An Wang reached manhood,
Like so many other worthless children from
Poor families, he had very few ways in which
He could support his own
Family. And like the majority of those other children,
At least the male ones,
He joined the army.
The city he lived in was big and brutal enough to have their own,
And war was common, viewed almost as a source of
Entertainment to the Upper Class.
It so happened that, two weeks after An Wang joined his army,
Two neighboring cities made a truce and decided to
Attack the ever-dominating city in which An Wang was
Learning to fight. Like everything else, he was
Simply average at it, and when the allied cities
Attacked, An Wang’s army was far outnumbered.
The battle, the Massacre, was short and
Bloody. Arrows of Fire rained down upon the stricken soldiers from
Above, while men on Horses trampled the poor, worthless children
To Death on the ground. Blood formed rivers in the parched earth,
And the ravenous earth Consumed man after Dead
Man. An Wang was lost, his ears filled with Dying Screams,
His mouth filled with bile and his nose, the scent of blood. His eyes were filled with
Tears and the dust the Horses kicked up beneath them, and all he could feel was the
Weight of the Sword in his trembling hands.
An Wang’s vision cleared in time for him to see Death riding toward him.
It took the shape of a Horseman and a Sword.
It cut him, deep, in his side. He fell to the ground, and lay there for a
Very long time.
Salvation came in the form of a woman.
She was ugly, broad and strong, and her feet had never been
Bound. She went among the Dead men, until she came across
An Wang, and saw that life still clung to him,
Or he to life, and she took him, and rinsed off his Death, and bandaged it too,
Until it became life. When he awoke, she fed and watered him,
And sang him songs of bravery and dishonor.
And when An Wang had recovered enough to sit and
Bathe and eat on his own, the two had long discussions,
And An Wang found her most wise
For a girl. And he laughed when she told him her name,
Lien, Lotus flower, the most beautiful of flowers,
For she was no beauty, yet he regretted it immediately, and
Said so. She forgave him, being used to other’s scorn, but not to their
Apologies.
And when he had fully recovered, he begged Lien to allow him to
Stay with her, but she told him that there too was war here,
And pointed him toward the East, where he might escape the
Pain of War. And he begged her to come with him, for he was afraid to be
Alone, but she wouldn’t, or couldn’t, and so he set off for Peace alone.
And it was on this search for Peace that
An Wang encountered a Mighty Forest.
It was dark and impenetrable, yet it was also Vast,
And turning back was not an option, so
An Wang sent a quick but
Heart-felt prayer to his Ancestors, took a deep breath,
And took one step forward.
Instantly, the forest engulfed him. The air was almost opaque with
Darkness, and the silence was total. An Wang felt fear rise into his throat,
Yet breaking the silence was unthinkable, and so it stayed there, scraping against the Walls of his throat and exhausting him. He sunk to his knees,
Unable to continue. And in the
Darkness where there was no one to see, and indeed, vision was impossible,
He wept.
All I’ve ever wanted was Peace. And now all I know is Darkness.
Yet as he said the very words, he felt a disgust, deep and powerful,
Rising up in him. He had, despite lack of skill, never complained at any
Task, never shied away from labor, always tried his unsatisfactory
Hardest. What have I become, to do so now?
He stood up. He took ten steps, slow and willful, and emerged from the Mighty Forest.
And he said to himself, I am Mighty, for I have conquered the forest.
I am Mighty.
He continued East, his resolve set and his step, a little lighter. He sang
Merrily to himself as he walked, a tune his Mother’s Mother had sung to him as a
Child. He walked across empty planes, land long barren, over hills, until he came to a
Fast River. The current was swift, too swift for easy
Crossing. An Wang sought a way across, and his gaze fell upon the rocks dotting the
Stream. Filled with the hubris the forest had given him, he leapt, rock to
Rock, across the river. He nearly fell once, and after that he was more
Cautious, and he managed to cross the river
Intact. He cried out, with joy, and declared himself Fast.
He nearly skipped on.
He soon came upon a small shack in a valley filled with little white and purple
Flowers. By this time he was very weary, the adrenaline from conquering
His Self, faded and weak. The food he had brought along for his search for Peace
Had recently run out, and though he was used to going without
Food for extended periods of time,
As he had at Home when there was not enough money even for
Tea, he was beginning to feel Hunger's insistent gnawing on the inside of his
Stomach. He had refilled his water jugs at the Fast River, yet they had since
Run dry.
So when An Wang saw this Little Shack, he didn't think twice as he
Stumbled toward it.
Inside, there was a flickering fire in the hearth,
And An Wang thought he could hear the chiming of little bells.
The mat on the floor was set for two, and there was a jug full of
Sparkling, clear water. An Wang was frozen in
Indecision, he new-found Self warring with his ideas of right and
Wrong. Don't said his Mother's Mother,
Do said his stomach, and his pride told him You
Deserve it. I’ll only eat a
Little, thought An Wang. I deserve it.
But when An Wang started eating, he found he couldn’t
Stop. Hands were forcing food down his throat, and they were
His, yet he felt no control over them. He consumed half the meal, then
All of it, the water poured hastily down his gullet and down his
Chin, shirt, waist then Plop to the floor. He ate like a savage,
Like a God, like an Emperor in his palace while his subjects
Starve. When he was done, he
Slept.
An Wang
Dreamt That
Someone was
Burning him
Alive.
He awoke to find an
Old Man
Sitting above him, staring at him.
An Wang remembered his actions the
Night before, and was instantly shamed, and began to
Rise. And then he thought, Why should I be
Ashamed? Am not I Mighty? Am not I Fast?
And he did not rise, did not show respect for his
Elder. The Old Man saw this, and tears poured from his
Eyes. They hit An Wang, and cured him of his over-whelming
Pride, and An Wang sat up and bowed to the
Old Man. The Old Man’s eyes narrowed, and he stood,
And walked away, without bowing
Back. An Wang was instantly furious. He had realized his
Mistake, and showed the proper respect, only to have this
Old Man disrespect him in such a way!
He stood up, and all the strength he had been born with,
All the strength that everyone told him he
Didn’t have because he was Poor and Inconsequential,
All the strength of Heaven, flowed into him, and out of him,
Toward the Old Man. An Wang lunged forward, arms extended, and
Shoved the Old Man, hard, and the Old Man fell to his knees.
Not a word, not a sound, escaped from his cracked
Lips. An Wang leaped at him, and pinned him to the hard
Earth floor. I could kill you now, An Wang roared at the Old Man.
I could do it! The Old Man said not a word. This only infuriated An Wang
Further. His hands found the Old Man’s throat, and applied just the tiniest bit of
Pressure. What do you want from me? And when the Old Man still did not
Answer, An Wang shook him, hard. When he had finished, the
Old Man opened his mouth and
Spoke.
An Wang.
You have two Futures, two
Paths laid out before you.
You have found your
Strength, and you could use it to
Be the most powerful
Man in China. You could use that strength to
Kill me,
And to kill all those in your
Way. That is
One Path.
The other path is Life,
For you and me.
Continue on your
Search for peace, and you shall
Find it.
You have a choice to
Make. It is for you
Alone to make this decision,
But you must make it
Now.
An Wang was shocked and
Confused. He looked at the
Old Man in
His hands and realized he
Could not kill him.
He released the Old Man, not
Gently, and ran from the Little Shack.
He wandered aimlessly, for what he was looking
For was inside himself, and he did not know how to
Find it. He stumbled into a Endless Desert, and soon gave up his
Futile wandering, sinking into the warm sand, utterly spent.
He had, for the first time in his life, tasted
Power, only to have it consume
Him. He closed his eyes and let Merciful
Sleep take him.
An Wang
Dreamt That
Someone was
Tossing his
Burnt, Mangled
Body into an
Ocean.
When he awoke, An Wang stood up, and walked. He
Walked and
Walked and
Walked until
To his utter amazement, the sand underneath his
Feet grew cool and damp. An Wang looked up and saw a clear,
Fresh-water pond encircled by willow trees. He took off his
Travel-Worn clothes, and stepped into the pond. He took a deep
Breath and let himself sink
Underwater.
When he was done, he washed his clothes, put them on
Wet, and continued. Soon the Endless Desert ended, and
An Wang smiled to himself and said,
You are not Endless, and don’t you forget it
Again.
He soon came to a hut near a forest, and near a
Grassy field stained with
Blood. He knocked on the door of the hut,
And was not surprised by who answered it.
He opened his mouth to ask—
But Lien answered his unspoken words before he
Could.
You needed to know that you are
Godly. You could never have been at peace if you had not
Known that you could thrive in a world of War. It was your
Choice that brought you Peace.
An Wang nodded, for he
Understood, and He and Lien lived there
Together until An Wang died, and Lien lived there
Alone. And for that whole time,
An Wang was at Peace.
