Page 6 of 7
Set Back
Posted: Mon May 27, 2019 5:19 pm
by Jun
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one step forward, two steps back;
one life forward ends set back.
Eye for an Eye
Posted: Mon May 27, 2019 5:19 pm
by Jun
When she was younger, she understood victory. She did not yet understand honour, fairness, compassion. The older Totoma had the upper hand in the fight - she drew blood, and, when he left an eye unguarded, drew his eye. With that, she triumphed: it had been just a sparring duel. Opinion erupted, she did not care - she sought only to win.
Months passed, years passed, and with time, with loss, she came to learn that victory was good, but not at all cost. The greatest ends may not always justify the greatest means. The more she learnt, the more she thought of the Totoma she had blinded for a spar, and so one day, she returned, hailing him out by a withered tree.
"Many moons ago, I took your eye," she said, "where there was no need to, and it was wrong of me."
And against a low, gnarled branch... Opinion erupted, she did not care. She had paid back the slight, and so felt it right. Henceforth they called her Eye for an Eye, and for better or worse, she wore her blind eye like a badge.
Shush
Posted: Mon May 27, 2019 5:19 pm
by Jun
You brought me to water and said, "This is blue."
And then I knew blue is the scent of always-new, a bright burble, the cool, soothing taste of living.
"Mama, this is blue," I said, past the snapping traps that caught and tore and kept.
"Shhh, shh, shh," you said.
You brought me to grass and said, "This is green."
And then I knew green is the perfume of heady sap, the bitter-sweetness of growth.
"Mama, this is green," I said, past the shadow steps that sprung and slashed and crept.
"Shhh, shh, shh," you said.
"This is red," you said. Red: a scream, copper-stench, the taste of - death. Even then, I cried.
"Shhh, shh, shh," you said.
But nothing like now, with copper thick and death on my questioning tongue: I nudge your warmth; you do not move.
I cry, "Mama."
Mama.
You are red.
No More Waiting
Posted: Mon May 27, 2019 5:19 pm
by Jun
It was just unfortunate for the eager rookie to have joined the tribe at a time when they were busy battling wily opposition who favoured ambushes in the dark - her startling pink bolts practically announced their position. "Wait here," their grizzled leader took to saying, nudging her to the very back of the ranks. She withstood this ignominy with good grace the first few nights, bouncing irritably on her heels as she craned her neck to watch the frontline troops pick - and win - their little fights as they crept through the foliage...then there came a night where the opponents piled on, and the little fight was no longer so little.
"NO MORE WAITING!!!" she screamed as she charged through her comrades (knocking them sideways left and right) to the very front. Her sudden arrival took the enemy rather by surprise, her dazzling bolts blinding, the stars studded across her helm knocking stars into their eyes as she headbutted indiscriminately about.
The skirmish did expand into rather a gruelling battle, but by the end of it, her troop was left standing victorious, and so their grizzled leader did not pause to consider how her insubordination might well have caused their mass demise in some alternate unfolding of events. Instead, he knocked his horns against hers companionably and heartily bellowed, "Very well, No More Waiting!"
Plainsong
Posted: Mon May 27, 2019 5:19 pm
by Jun
[imgright]
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In the plains, I wait for Father:
Father, Father; he never comes -
lost to the Swamp is my Father.
In the plains, I wait for Mother:
Mother, Mother; she never comes -
lost to the Swamp is my Mother.
My hair is my veil, dew like beads,
dawn's blush paints my cheeks;
in the plains, I wait: you never come.
Wrangler
Posted: Mon May 27, 2019 5:19 pm
by Jun
Living so close to Rise & Shine made this Totoma's special skill evident rather quickly: droves of pigs, flocks of chickens, even odd collections of ribbiting frogs - there seemed to be nothing the hardy doe couldn't wrangle with her calls and whistles and quick-footed running, and so they called her Wrangler.
No Day But Today
Posted: Mon May 27, 2019 5:20 pm
by Jun
'No day but today,' soon became the motto of this Totoma doe who lived each moment as her last, even as she butted the softer heads of her Acha and Kiokote siblings as a filly, charging bright-eyed into the unknown. When she found a taste for the occasional fight as a doe, it naturally became the battle cry for which she was quite quickly named.
Pearldiver
Posted: Mon May 27, 2019 5:20 pm
by Jun
Her mother was not an easy doe to live with. Her mother was so hard to live with, in fact, that when this Totoma daughter needed to take a break from it, she ran and ran all the way to the ocean. And jumped right in. The rocky ridges of an oyster reef distracted her from her desperation, and, before she grew short of breath, she prised one from its bed and brought it to shore. Smashing the poor mollusc yielded a nice snack...and a perfect, gleaming pearl.
The next month was filled with investigation as she sought these delicate prizes. She grew immeasurably fond of them - first, because her coat resembled the palest of these; deeper, because she discovered they, like her, were formed from years of irritation... By the time she'd reluctantly returned to her family, she'd learnt which swamp shells could gift her similar delights, and earned the name Pearldiver.
Roll Over
Posted: Mon May 27, 2019 5:20 pm
by Jun
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Good boys, bad boys,
every type of hound -
"Roll over, roll over!"
and they all fell down.
Hidden
Posted: Mon May 27, 2019 5:20 pm
by Jun
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in the deep waters
the blinded caves
the mossy heart;
in the secret places,
the nature of the beast.
Honey-suckled
Posted: Mon May 27, 2019 5:20 pm
by Jun
[imgright]
http://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/image ... uckled.gif[/imgright]
the foal that is suckled on honey grows
to have the sweetest mouth
Colder Water
Posted: Mon May 27, 2019 5:20 pm
by Jun
[imgright]
http://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/image ... rwater.gif[/imgright]
northwards,
to the mountain's foot;
northwards,
winter's daughter -
northwards,
in the bitter snow;
northwards,
to colder water.
Whisperer
Posted: Mon May 27, 2019 5:20 pm
by Jun
Even as a lamb, he had been noticeably serene, his little bleats soothing and soft. His extended family at Rise & Shine probably noticed his talents first as a foal with Pull Through's beloved chicken: he could calm down a squawking hen with a few whispered words. They had assumed his talents lay specifically with chicken - but (thankfully) before they could name him Birdbrained or something of the ilk, he had brought his gifts to bear with the pigs that squealed about the store...and then, to their amazement, to the cats. Even the infamously bloody Bloody Cat was rendered a purring kitten, belly-up, with his whispered assurance.
The awe really kicked in when, during one of Summer Fades' shrill fits of pique, he distracted her with no more than a charming handful of secret whispers, and his grandma ended up spending the next hour playing hide-and-seek with him instead of squalling. From then on, it was plain to see: he wasn't a bird-whisperer, or a cat-whisperer - or even a grandma-whisperer (though one of his uncles did attempt to name him so).
"He's a Whisperer," his loving mother pronounced, contentedly, "doesn't matter what it is. A Whisperer."
Love Me Once
Posted: Mon May 27, 2019 5:20 pm
by Jun
[imgright]
http://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/image ... meonce.gif[/imgright]
love me once,
but never twice:
once is folly,
twice is vice.
Lamb
Posted: Mon May 27, 2019 5:20 pm
by Jun
[imgright]
http://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/images/blue/lamb.gif[/imgright]
lamb;
little lamb:
come be cradled
drink of milk;
sweet milk:
mother's favour
sleep;
soundly sleep:
and thereafter
weep;
little lamb:
through your
torn throat.
