Part Two - Twilight
Part Three - Dusk
the being
in a village a fire
ran out villagers did
not know why or how but they ran out out
of their houses into the roads
they were afraid and they shouted screaming
for help because their houses were burning
and some ran into the woods but
most just shouted screaming
for help and some wept for the losses but
they were not losses at all
because houses can be always rebuilt
and villages they can always be
stood up once again
but one person did not run
rather he stood and he just stared at the flames
his face was expressionless or so
it seemed but
a deeper light just lay in his eyes of
the ocean he was always just there
just there he stood and the villagers only watched
they dared not go near the flames the hot flames
nobody knew who he had been when
he had been young when he had been carefree like a bird
but now his face was hard and so cold like
ice it just seemed so cold and so hard and
different the villagers ignored him
but he did not seem to care save
the sad light in his ocean eyes but
nobody seemed to notice him and he was known as the being
the being who nobody knew and nobody cared
yet he could remember soft warmth of his family
if his family had actually been there
and he didn't know how or why
but something struck him the fires did
and he just stood there
the being stood there
and he did not heed any
warnings or shouts
the villagers made
but rather he listened to the wind
and the fire that licked
the houses in the village
and he listened to the earth who
whispered to him about
lands beyond and
listening listening to all the stars
and the bowstring would be loosened the arrow
would fly and the hunter would become the hunted
the villagers tried to warn him but
he did not listen
he only listened to the wind and the flame and the earth
and far away he could
hear the ocean
the ocean which sang to him and
brought light to his eyes
and he let himself go into another world
the villagers watched and they were
afraid afraid what the being was doing and what
was being done to him but they
did not go near him they were too afraid of the
flames and they rather stuck together like
bees in a hive and they
watched the houses being burnt and
some of the animals getting killed and
some cried and some wept and some faces were wet
with tears but they did not understand
they were not true losses even
if some lives had been lost
because they were always together and
had memories to share during
hard times
and the houses were just houses and
farms were just farms
with time they could always spring up again although
they were not the same
but the villagers desired for sameness it seemed
the safety that sameness brought so
maybe that was why they were so
afraid of the being because the being was so different
from them
and the being just stood and let himself go
the villagers just watched their possessions being burned
doing nothing although
some tried to save them and ended being burnt yet they did
not die because they were saved by the others who were
the same as them
but did they not understand they
were not true losses in the world
did they not understand that things were just things
that time always went on and everything will fade
into the shadows of time the mist will
cover them but it will be a happy silence
but they do not understand so they
just weep for the small things life brings them and
the being does not understand
he understands the true losses but at the same
time he is afraid and he desires to be
the same but he cannot so he does not
and the villagers just stand there weeping
for small losses which life brings them every so often
and they can be replaced and still will be the same
oh do they not understand
the wind and the fire and the earth and the water
and light and darkness and life and death
they just do not heed the things and when one life is quenched
they just weep with sorrow
but they also weep with fear of what may come
death may come to them so they are afraid
but do they not understand they should celebrate instead
celebrate and remember the memories of the one who
passed away over the flame and the earth and the wind and the ocean
and met light and darkness and the shadows in between
do they not understand that in the end everything is different
and nothing
is the same do they not
no they do not yet a small part of them still does
but it is too small so they only weep
they only remember a shadow of
the true losses they have lost forever
and they only live the brief lives that they do
like a candles flame and a breeze in the air
and the being he cries he cries for the people
who cannot understand and he listens to the wind
and the flame and the wind
and the ocean and he cries and he weeps
for all the people who cannot understand the true
losses and the true rewards of life and death
and the villagers shout and they scream with fear but they
do not understand but pain is pain
and that they do understand
but everything is so different in life and
life is neither good nor bad
they only have to make what they have and
they have to make the bad or good
but people they faded into the shadows
and they desire sameness they do not
understand they do not
desire brief beauty like a moth
to a flame but they just live and they die and they
face joy and face pain
and the being understands but he does not understand
and he cries and he weeps for all the people who cannot
understand and
he looks at the flame and the earth
and the air and the ocean
his eyes are filled with a deeper light
that people cannot understand and he cannot understand
it himself but a part of him does
and he remembers all the joy
humans had before they too fell into the shadows
and before they had desired the sameness and safety
they do not understand he thinks and yet they do so
more than me why must I stand in the between
where the light meets the dark and the shadows
diverge into the fire
life is more than life and death is more than death
and we have lost the true losses that burns like the flame
and cools like the ice and I must feel it all
by myself and I am afraid but I must stand
do they not understand that true beauty
is only so brief and so everlasting
so less and so more than themselves
things are just things and they
only stand for a brief period of time
and they must fade and they must be destroyed by
heavy time
but do they not see that true losses
will be there ever and true beauty is so brief
like a moth to a flame the moth
burns itself for true beauty and
even as it does not live long it becomes part of the beauty
and it lives forever and yet its life
is so brief oh why
must I bear the pain of the past
and the present and the future and I stand here alone
I am the different one and they must still stay the same
until they realize they are
the part of the pattern which is still weaving itself on
and on until time ends
but will time end
true losses are so beautiful and
true beauty is so short and so long
why must humans suffer like
no beast even a moth has a better
life than one
humans are wise but they are
also foolish for they
belive true beauty is not what
it is and they go looking for something
else they cannot grab like
a rainbow and they just walk on and on and on
but is that not true beauty also
only God knows what true beauty is
and to understand true beauty i must fall
into it myself and i will find the true losses and will
lose them again but i do not care
for i will become part of the everlasting and so short
a beauty for it is true beauty and i will be true
and i can remember the soft warmth and i have
lived long harsh years and i cannot bear it
the humans do not understand
they just scream and shout in fear
and they weep for the longings they had and they lost
but is that not also true beauty also he
asks and his eyes are so misted and a silver
tear drops from his cheek
but he has stopped weeping
he cannot understand but at least he is
willing to discover and to find and to lose and to die
and to live and to weep for all the true losses people have lost
he wonders so briefly if God is true beauty and he knows that He is
for He is so everlasting and so short in His time
and he ignores the shouts and screams of the people
the people who is a part of the pattern
the pattern which must bring so much suffer and so much pain
he hears the cries but he does not weep
although he bores the scars of them all
and the scars run deep against his heart
but he does not cry and instead he smiles
and silently he falls into the flames
-jiyeon koh
Author's Note: About the poem... Yes, I've got it posted everywhere, sorry. But I wrote it without thinking of anything, then decided that it should specifically used for a song in Dance of the Ages. (It is also posted on Dusty Parchments -- a collection of original poems -- and on its own, The Being.) The poem/song plays an important part in the story afterwards. Thanks. And this poem was written purposefully to ignore almost all correct punctuation. Alright, back to the story now.