A/N: So here's the first in this collection of poems (actually, they're songs--they were all written as such, tho melodies aren't as easy to show people over the internet) centering on my favorite character in Avatar. This is the oldest song of those I deemed worthy to be displayed here, lol, and the second that I wrote. (I'm not as crazy about the first, so you won't find it here. For now, at least.) Okay, so, about the song, the first verse (from "I don't know how" to "don't say I've lost you") is supposed to be right after Zuko's banishment, and the rest of the song...hmm, i think of the second verse as being toward the end of Season 1 or near the beginning of Season 2, but there are parts of the rest of the song that i think would make more sense if you took them as being toward the end of Season 2...So anyway, enough rambling.
Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar or Zuko--I only love him to bits! lol. And the rest of the show, too...
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Mercy and Wrath
I don't know how I've betrayed you,
That you sent me in exhile to live--
But I won't rest till I've repaid you
The fealty a son ought to give:
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Please understand--it was wrong, I believed--
Those young men like me were to perish deceived!
Yet still they are loyal--their lives you command,
And still I'm your son though I'm scarred by your hand:
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It was my only wish to my King to be true--
Don't say I've lost you!
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I'd try till it kills me--I'd bear pain and loss
To be a good son so my king could be proud:
But the ocean between us I can't ever cross--
It ended the day when before you I bowed,
Begging my liegelord for mercy,
Feeling the heat of your wrath...
-
This ember is all that's left of me--
The long years have burned down to this:
I long to hear you say you love me--
Call me home from the lightless abyss!
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I've chased him for so long, your love to reclaim--
To cast off my bitterness, sorrow and shame:
But as you told me, luck never was on my side--
So I can't help but wonder: would you care that I tried?
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Now it's my turn to reshape my own destiny--
My King, you've lost me.
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I'd try till it kills me--I'd bear pain and loss
To be a good son so my king could be proud:
But the ocean between us I can't ever cross--
It ended the day when before you I bowed,
Begging my liegelord for mercy,
Feeling the heat of your wrath...
-
Inside I'm still seared by your anger--
Still burning in your wrathful gaze:
Would anguish teach me to be stronger?
You said so, unleashing the blaze...
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I thought I had failed you time and again--
I'd die in the effort and still I can't win!
But now I have seen what a family should be,
And I think perhaps you betrayed me.
-
I'd try till it kills me--I'd bear pain and loss
To be a good son so my king could be proud:
But the ocean between us I can't ever cross--
It ended the day when before you I bowed,
Begging my liegelord for mercy,
Feeling the heat of your wrath...
-
But I can't keep burning forever
So I'll have to find my own path.