DISCLAIMER: Inuyasha and all its characters are created by Rumiko Takahashi. I merely occasionally borrow them for my own twisted purposes.
A/N: A rare appearance by my poetry muse, who shook me by the scruff of my neck until I wrote this.
---
I look for you among the midnight trees,
In moonlit copses and in starry skies.
I hear you in the rustle of the wind,
The nightingale sings back your name to me.
Five hundred lonely years have you been gone,
Yet still I search in forest and in glen.
It does no good. You're nowhere to be found.
---
They stayed with me, the women that we loved,
And left, not out of anger, but of age.
Time catches up with humans, oh, so fast,
And swiftly passes, leaving only dust.
I wept once more, and raged against the loss,
And, given time, I healed, but not unchanged:
I bear the scars, and once more am alone.
---
My brother too has known the pang of loss;
He came to me and told me of her death.
I held him as a tear coursed down his cheek.
I had not thought him capable of grief.
And now he's gone back to his lonely tor;
He holds his lands, but tighter still, his heart.
I do not think that he will love again.
---
The fox kit grew to manhood, took a mate,
And now he has a family of his own.
The nekomata keeps the kits in line;
Her mistress passed, she could not live alone.
And now he and his mate have a small shop:
The best kitsune udon e'er I ate.
They find such pleasure in a simple life.
---
The wolf gave in, and wed his promised bride.
His pack is strong, his children proud and swift.
They hold the rocky places in the wild;
I meet him sometimes in my wanderings there.
These places now are few and far between,
As Mankind comes and shunts us all aside.
I do not think that Man is truly kind.
---
The place where last you stood is now a pond,
Where frogs and herons mate among the reeds,
And deer come to its grassy shore to drink.
Your place of death is teeming now with life.
The pond is in the center of a park,
Surrounded on all sides by busy streets,
A quiet green amidst the concrete grey.
---
And somewhere in this city she was born,
And grows up with her family and friends,
A normal girl who leads a normal life,
Is ignorant of the power that lies within.
I know she's there, but will not seek her out,
As tempting as it is to watch her grow.
I'll meet her in the past, and that's enough.
---
The other day I met a handsome boy
With violet eyes that widened when we met.
A shock of recognition did I see?
Or had he merely never seen my kind?
My heart cried out with joy, "Look, he is back!
The wheel has turned, just as he said it would!"
Or was it wishful thinking on my part?
---
I followed him down to the place he dwells.
When I arrived, imagine my surprise:
A brothel, huddled by a temple wall,
Where Buddha smiled on monk and whore alike.
The secular and sacred worlds collide,
With comfort to be found behind each door,
And he was born to walk between these worlds.
---
Shall I pursue him with a willing heart?
And could I bear it if it broke once more?
My friend and partner, brother and my love,
Could you forgive me if I love again?
I'd like to think that you would smile and say,
"Go live and love, and let my memory rest."
I will go on, but never will forget.
