Prose: As he stood on the battlefield

A tribute to a soldier:

"...
As he stood on the battlefield;

The setting sun in the color of blood
stretched his shadow over the land,
A ghost he could not shake.

The dead screamed in silence.
A deafening plea of deliverance
Unsung, Unheard
And Unanswered

Scattered Shield, Sword
And Lance
Pleading, Peeking
And Seething

A tall figure,
The last survivor,
And The final Victor
Triumphed, Cheered
And Echoed against emptiness.

As he stood there,
With his own shadow like a ghost
Bathed in the Bloody Sun,
Deafened by the Screaming Silence,
He truly was unrivaled, matchless,
And Alone.

This prose is inspired by a poster on a forum who seemed to be very passionate about his own ideas and defended vigorously, without actually hearing what others were trying to say. At the end of the day, everybody just stopped talking about the idea.

The Twain Shall Meet

OH, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet,
Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God’s great Judgment Seat;
But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth,
When two strong men stand face to face, tho’ they come from the ends of the earth!

I was reading up on some classic English poems and stumbled across this piece. It's quite interesting, and I am surprised I've never come across this on account of its strong undercurrent of "brotherly bond" (Which is a milder and more easily stomach version of "homosexual love"). You can find the whole poem by clicking on the title of this blog. The refrain, is given above.

The poem told a story that happened in India during British occupation. The son of a Colonel gave chase to a Border Thief who had stolen a prized horse of his father, but ended up falling into a trap of the opponent. However, instead of being executed, the son of Colonel earned the respect of the Leader, and was bonded to the Leader's eldest son, thereby ending a border feud.

The whole refrain basically pointed out that the bond between two strong men can surmount cultural and status differences. If this is not a poem that celebrate "same-sex relationship", I don't know what is.

If somehow you find a strong sexual connotation in the term "same-sex relationship", please banish that preconception. It doesn't have to be sexual or erotical by nature. Though nothing prevent it to be either.

I think I am missing out on a lot of good literature. Although I still think that chinese poems are more enlightened artform, the western poems have their charm too.

The movie that cannot speak its name

I actually feel pity for Crash.

I mean, it's a pretty mediocre movie. Mediocre movies don't get trashed all the time, they usually just get ignored. But Crash was unfortunately used by AMPAS to snubbed Brokeback Mountain. Of course, all people around the world who can appreciate a good movie was infuriated. AMPAS not only snubbed the real Best Picture of 2005, it did so with one of the worst. And of course, to set the record straight, a lot of analysis came out to explain why Crash was bad.

To be honest, I don't think Crash deserve those bad analysis. It just deserved to be forgotten.

Read all the responses from the disappointed movie-goers. Gosh, the angst...

Heart behind a wall

A wall had crumbled without a rumble.

Unexpectedly.

And with it, came tears I did not know I had.

It happened the second time I heard Ennis Del Mar, having collapsed in the arms of his Jack Twist, said: "Jack, I can't stand this anymore." The words echoed into my heart. The wall that had been cracked and rattled the first time came tumbling down.

I too, could not stand this anymore.

Having been hurt once too many time, I had vowed never to be injured again. I built a wall to keep the harm out. I was safe. I could then look at the rest of the fools fumbling with their emotions with a cold smirk playing my lips.

However, the wall that kept the harm out, oh so stoically, also kept me in; a prison of my own making.

The hurts and injuries weren't healed. They were hidden, covered like some ugly wounds that I was ashamed of. As time passed, even I had forgotten that they still bled, for then the pain had numbed me.

Numb as I had been, I could not feel anything when Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist first reached into my heart, loosened the wall and lifted the cover gently but deftly. I had glimpses of my old wounds, bleeding, crying, but I felt no pain.

But as the breathe of honesty cleansed away the unfeelings and the indifferences, the dull ache that was my wounds exposed became a sharp pain, as feelings struggled against the rough emotional prison that I built.

The pain caught me unaware. I was confused, and I must sought the answer. I went back to Brokeback Mountain again.

And this time, as the wall crumbled, I shed tears that should have been shed a long time ago. They were tears of all the aching wounds, all the ignored suffering and all the frozen misery. But there were new tears as well. They were tears of joy, of freedom, of celebration. For I was ready to fly again, despite the fear-inducing struggle before me.

Ennis Del Mar had taught me a precious lesson: Despite your effort to avoid them, the things you feared most were bound to happen.
Jack Twist then gave me a precious gift: The bravery to fight against, not others', but my own fear.

So there I was, standing, raw, among the ruins of my old prison. I sent up a silent prayer, gathered my trauma and pain, and transformed them into wings of courage and freedom.

And I soar.

I have read a lot about how people have delayed reaction for "Brokeback Mountain" like I had. I had wonder about that, and some of what people said inspired my to write this short article about how I felt about the movie and why I have a delayed reaction.