literature

Kesa and Morito

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NatureTheZafara's avatar
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Literature Text

I.

The next day
When the sun shone through the cherry blossoms
And the footprints of last night had almost faded
They found the man
Lying on his bed like a paint-stained leaf
Encircled in red
Like a pool of colored tears
A ragged hole in his golden heart
He was smiling that night
Maybe he was dreaming
Of the rivers singing in the sun
And the chrysanthemums blooming in spring.



II.

In the same house
In the next room
They found the woman
Her mouth as wide and pained
As the gaping hole in her stomach
Her husband's old knife in her hand
Her eyes are lunar eclipses
The same ones she feared as a child
In her caretaker's arms
The lamp behind her is turned off
She looks dreadfully ugly.



III.

Under the bridge
Whose completion we celebrated
Many nights ago
There flows a river
Where the lillies were plentiful
And where we had found him
Limp as a dead fish
He smelled of blood and rivers
And a married man's wife
The sword he often used
Is right there just by the old tree
It's cracked and rusted
And covered in
Red.






IV.

These blooms have wilted
Take what you want, then lose it
Only Death has won.
Meh. Taking a break from all that studying for today. The last part's on Monday, anyhow. OTL

Anyway.

In our Filipino class, our lessons include a few short stories from different countries translated into Filipino. We had to read some of them (though they didn't show up in my Filipino exam this morning, for some reason), and though I admit I had a bit of a struggle with the deep Filipino words and this is coming from someone who's Filipino herself? SHAAAAME, I had lots of fun reading and understanding them.

One of the stories we had to read for this quarter is "Kesa and Morito" (translated into Filipino as "Si Kesa at Si Morito"), a short story by Japanese master writer Ryunosuke Akutagawa. The story is composed of two monologues by the titular characters, and the whole thing is a complete deconstruction of love and lust. And it is one of the most utterly confusing stories I've ever read. No, it's not just because I'm kinda fail in Filipino - I read the English translation of the story and it still confused me. Never had I seen any characters whose emotions were so messed up like these two. o_o But though it got my brain in a daze, at the same time it made me think; and I think that's what made and still makes Akutagawa-san such a respected author today.

And because I got so inspired, I wrote this. :P I wrote the poem in between studying for my exams in Economics and Religion, and it was rather quick to write. You have to read the actual story itself to understand the meaning, but I rather do like it as a stand-alone poem as well. :) I have to apologize, however; my knowlegde of traditional Japanese culture is rather limited so I can't say for sure if my poem is politically correct. ^^; Oh well.

Please do tell me what you think~! ^_^

===*===
'Kesa and Morito' (the original story) (c) Ryunosuke Akutagawa
Poem (c) me
Written first on paper, then transferred here.
© 2011 - 2024 NatureTheZafara
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ABECrudele's avatar
Yey! You posted it!

BTW, what did Miss Fernandez say about the poem?