Monday, August 25, 2014

Under the Sea with Han-Yi

Regarding recent events in the Middle Kingdom...

Another bad poem by Han-Yi Srotāpanna



Mister Ba Lee, a southern gentleman
Rides a swift boat, us to pursue
Armed with a harquebus
We meet in a storm, screaming words
A strait shooter, clearly untrustworthy

The typhoon grows, we hurl into the deep
Lashing winds upset our vessel
I cry out to Budha
Great Budha is not wanted here 
Down we fall, into Mazu's open maw

Once Upon pontificates sailor's grit
"Take me home", says a windy voice
I hold a waking pearl
We dive beneath devouring waves
A spherical world, placid green stillness

Ghosts of the ocean, a fortress of brass
Warfare under the tossing storm
Trolls of the Rising Sun
Pirates fear only burning brands
Air in our bubble births strange combustion

A balance is upset by our coming
Twelve against five is even odds
Flames chase the fleeing five
Inquisitor's bow looses doom
Once Upon bids one return to perish

A pact with pale strangers leads to riches
Imports from the far fabled West
Once Upon makes new friends
Guns, Silks, and Gold flow to the depths
Laudanum and glass trinkets climb sunward

Above the storm howls bidding us onward
The false oxen open the doors
Synergistic stealth wins
Five pilgrims stand at Your Mom's gates
Prayers and incense, command the coming flood

The weight of the world in a grain of rice
Mister Lee fetches the toy boat
One lifts what twelve could not
Rising waters carry her home
Two pedestals, far apart, look alike

A river dragons follows ladies' pearls
The statue is larger by far
Friends crushed beneath her feat
A flat plate of brass is her throne
What Once Upon asks, his lady giveth

Another god meets with the stream-winner
Foreigners guard her temple now
Mazu's priest, now our fence
Bandits arrive to greet their king
Sunny skies and fruit, The people rejoice

What burial awaits the bandit king
His hat lies buried in the bay
Who killed the son of Pearls
Many questions yet to answer
Four treasures we need to win an empire..

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