Five Arrows
Mary Soon Lee
Amid the smell of
wild thyme,
on a hilltop in
the horse country,
sheep cropping the
grass below him,
King Xau sat on an
old felt rug
listening to his
children
tell him stories.
"My
turn!" said Suyin,
Xau's youngest
daughter.
"Two sisters
and three brothers
met a huge fierce
tiger.
The sisters wanted
to fight it,
but their big
brother wanted to hide,
and the other two
brothers
wanted to run
away--
I need six arrows
for the next bit."
Xau's guard Atun,
one of the three
guards on duty,
bowed very gravely
to Suyin,
took six arrows
from his quiver,
handed them to
her.
"The sisters
and brothers quarreled,
and the tiger ate
them all up."
Suyin gave Xau one
arrow.
"Break it,
Papa."
Xau snapped the
arrow in two,
remembering the
one other time
he'd heard this
story:
how startled Suyin
had been
when Queen Hana
gave her an arrow--
a real arrow--
to break.
"Yes!"
said Suyin. "Like that!
The tiger ate them
up, like that!
Then the tiger met
five more
sisters and
brothers,
only they didn't
quarrel.
They fought side
by side
and killed the
tiger!"
Suyin used her
sash to tie
the other five
arrows into a bundle.
"Break them,
Papa."
Xau took the five
arrows
and tried--not too
vigorously--
to break them.
"Papa, may I
try?" said Ying.
She took the bundle
of arrows
and strained and
strained
without success.
"Let
me," said Keng, Xau's eldest.
Keng stood up,
placed his boot on
one end
of the bundle of
arrows,
yanked the other
end up,
snapped two
arrows.
"No! Keng!
Stop!" yelled Suyin.
"The sisters
and brothers
are stronger
together!"
"I'm
sorry," said Keng,
looking more smug
than sorry.
Suyin gave Keng a
ferocious scowl
before scrambling
into Xau's lap.
"Papa, what
did you think?"
"It's a very
fine story," said Xau,
his arms around
her, his heart full.
"But if you
keep telling it,
Atun will run out
of arrows."
Suyin giggled.
Amid the smell of
wild thyme,
far from the
palace where his hours
were measured in
meetings,
the king with his
children.
Poet's Notes:
This is part of The Sign of the Dragon, http://www.thesignofthedragon.com my epic fantasy in verse, which centers on the heroic King Xau, chosen by a
dragon to rule. This particular poem contains no battles, no danger, nothing
magical, nothing fantastical. Instead it shows King Xau with his children, an
ordinary moment in a life that is far from ordinary.
The opening poem in Xau's
story may be read in the Review here:
http://eretzsongs.blogspot.com/2016/03/poem-of-day-interregnum-by-mary-soon.html.
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