“Bleeding Lily,
Weeping Sky.”

by Jonathan Burke
	Okay I decided I would respond to the October Challenge of Doom in a rather…different… 
manner.  This is my first piece of long, tale telling poetry, written in a free style, so please, be gentle.  If 
you get too confused, explanations are included in a paragraph at the end of the story.


Silent stars stream by,
Leaving their blessed light
Upon those on the ground.

Wars waged, ages gone,
Those with blood on their hands
Sit in silent misery,
Ever aware of the innocence,
Blessed and white,
That mocks them.

Of one of these I sing, great muse,
Ever strong in it’s pomposity.
Raven’s caress and winter’s chill,
Soft blanket of white upon the
Greatest lands of the East.

Two warriors, brave with
The burning roses of their hearts
Dance an eternal dance of
Denial, hate, love, and fear.
Each, brave enough to challenge any
Foe, no matter the shades upon them,
Yet knowing only trembles at the other.

The Dragon ascendant, screaming
Defiance of his fate, battles the Orchid,
Tiger,
Nightshade,
Rose,
Clawing for the place aside the Lily,
Which he denies is his own.

Upon all of these fall the shades,
White pouring over darkness,
Chaos into the void.
Serenity is found,
Torn asunder.
Red petals showering the ground,
Softy falling roses give
Unto the earth their incarnadine hue.
The shade feeds, enlightened by
The eternal conflict.
Cycles are torn asunder as one whom
Maintains mundanity in the asylum is 
Surrendered to nether realms.
Opening the gates of fury, hatred,
Shock.

The Gale pours forth as the Dragon weeps.
Lily, Tiger, Orchid, mute with
Unknown fears, all stare
At the wilted flower before them
Stamen split, petals missing, with
Only a shadow left to remind them.
The Lily screams as the Gale collapses,
Furious as the loss of Serenity, 
Familiar rage, red, hot, 
Conflagration of the ages,
Ancestral anger overcomes her features.
Lily strikes Dragon, unable to hold
Serenity any longer.
The winds weep their loss,
Even the Ursur knows only loss.

The Dragon only howls, 
Bidding the Gale to rise anew,
Judgement poured out, 
Promising shi against the
Render of Serenity.

The Ursur weeps,
Knowing the void again,
No simple walls to hide the
Flood so long denied within
The numbers.
Ice relents to warm misery,
Intermingling its waters with
Gale and Lily.

Owl arrives with Orchid,
Eyes wide at Serenity’s withered
Stem.
Wrinkle bounds in, 
Alights upon the still Tortoise.
Soon, four more moans
Join the chorus.

Order summoned, inspects,
Perplexed at the state of the stem,
Stamen split asunder.
Order collects petals,
Questions all, leaves.
Perplexity resides with rage,
Unable to find the render of Serenity.

The Ursur falls, unable to
Withstand the passages of the
Heart’s discontent.  The Gale pours forth
Anew as the Dragon summons the Hand,
Unconscious of the act.
The Hand arrives and holds the Ursur,
Pressing, listening, healing.
Then the Hand looks upon Serenity,
Stamen rent asunder,
Petals littering the floor.
The Hand clenches, becomes the Fist.
Unholy fury erupts, terrifying the Dragon.

Lost love hidden under rambling
Claws a blazing path.
Hot vengeance stirs the soul of the healer,
Knowledge of life becomes the source of Death.
The Hand blazes with fury,
A sun upon the benighted grounds,
Burning the very essence of the Hand.
In the fire a new thing is born,
Terrible to behold as the 
Hand
Becomes
The 
Phoenix.

Time passes, oblivious to the suffering
Of the Skies.  Serenity is placed,
Stamen rent asunder, into
The ground next to her mother,
As the gray heavens of the East 
Join in the weeping of the earth.

Raven lands into her realm,
Sorrow follows in her steps.
Lair of hatred know only
The foul steps of her soul.
Ra’s blessings banished from
Her alabaster abode.
Raven sleeps, feature hidden
>From the ages by her pale shroud.

Another day dawns as Raven sleeps,
Phoenix, Dragon, Lily
Cry forth their rage,
Phoenix’s knowledge leading light unto
The unknown hated.
Gale rallies, storm quenched yet
Not ended, all seeking the
Render of Serenity.
Owl alights with Wrinkle, 
Converse, sharing arcane mutterings,
Millennia of lore, echoing through 
The modern East, awakened in
The most horrid of manners.
Wrinkle concludes first, followed
By Owl.

‘Tis Raven, say they, only her marks
Are left upon Serenity, stamen rent asunder.
Raven must feed anew, say they, and
It will be upon one of the Sky.
What she has marked as her
Own she will claim forever.

Dragon, Wrinkle, Tortoise,
Gale, Owl,
And Phoenix plot.
Dragon, scared of loss, yet scared
Of admitting loss, mocks Lily.
Lily, passionate, strikes,
Then rushes to her pond,
To weep bitter tears.
Dragon hurt by his own,
Only hides the pain under 
False joviality while all
Who watch shake their heads in
Shame.

Sol sleeps as Raven awakes.
Raven, hunger burning anew,
Seeks the heavens to find the Sky.
Silver light framing Raven’s
Ivory form.  She spies the land
Which is now her own.
The land of Serenity rent asunder.
Raven perches, spies.
She sees Lily prostrate,
Moaning, weeping.
And Raven hungers.

A breeze passes as Raven 
Draws open the pond of Lily,
Sliding silently in to 
Darkened room.
Lily, not knowing why,
Yet knowing to,
Leaps back, body defensive,
Ready to face some unknown
Intruder, only to
See Raven’s smiling face
Echoing the fear in Lily’s heart.

Raven lunges, claws forward.
As Lily screams, reaches, finds,
Thrusts.
Bokken strikes Raven,
Whose shock is great that
One so tender could harm
Such as she.
Raven seizes the winds, silences 
The pond,
Stills the waters so that none
May see the turbulence she
Wreaks upon the Lily.

Voice stopped but
Rage strong as Dragon’s heart
Lashes forth again to strike the 
Tormenting Raven.
Raven laughs, ready for the Sky
To release its winds, harnesses the breeze
And presses down on the Lily.

Raven luxuriates in the softness
Of Lily’s petals, draws the flower
Into her embrace, sings into Lily’s ear.
Raven hungers for her taste of Sky,
Having claimed the land, reaches
Back to tear Lily’s stamen asunder.
As a ripple, Lily twists
And calls for the one who
She knows will come.  The fires in
Her heart beckon Dragon, as ravens claws
Dig deep into Lily’s leaf.

Dragon, startled from complicity by
Some unknown feeling, looks inside his
Heart to find the one who is beckoning.
Seizing the answer in his wrathful claws,
Dragon cries for Lily and flies
And dives into Lily’s pond, breaking the 
Surface like so much dust.

Dragon looks, and heart freezes
As he perceives the sight in front,
Lily, under Raven, petals falling from 
Cheek and leaf.
Dragon’s rage awakens Phoenix, Gale,
Summons them, and feeds their holy 
Rage against Raven, the render of Serenity.
Dragon, Phoenix, Gale’s hearts combine in
Fear and retribution, each together becoming 
More than what they were,
Shining like the sky, Phoenix becomes Ra.

Raven shrinks from Ra’s unending light,
Pain stretching across her white features.
Lily, freed from her embrace, grasps the bokken.
Tears mingle with the petals, fall softly to the floor
As Lily drives the bokken like the vengeful hand of God.
Rending Raven’s chest asunder.

Lily’s eyes are the messengers that take Raven to Hell.

…

Again the passage of time
Refuses to slow for the wishes of mortals.
Ra becomes Phoenix becomes the Hand,
As Gale, Lily and Ursur weep the loss of Serenity,
But are secure in the knowledge that the 
Render was rent.
Until the spring once again dawned on the Sky.

Gale sits, melancholy features drawn as he
Challenges the mind of the Tortoise.  Lily
Reads as Dragon flies and Ursur counts her purse.
A rapping falls upon the doorway of the Sky,
Eliciting surprise from Lily, who answers.
Shock and relief fill her features as she gazes upon
The Visitor.
Serenity steps again into the threshold of the Sky.
Gale, unable to contain his joy and surprise, asks
Serenity how she has returned, when they had
Lain her in the ground, Stamen rent asunder.

Serenity smiles, peace flowing from her features
As her harmonious song fills the ears of those
Around her.
The Sky is my home, she sings, and I shall never let it go.
And somewhere in Hell Raven screams, in victory or loss.

	Okay guys, there you have it.  Now for some explanations.  I wrote this poem in an intuitive sort 
of way, so I guess I’ll explain whom all the characters are so as to clear up any confusion.  If I’m insulting 
you’re intelligence by doing this, then just skip to the second paragraph.  Dragon is Ranma, and Tortoise is 
Genma.  All of Ranma’s fiancée’s are named as flowers, with Lily being Akane, Orchid Shampoo, 
Nightshade Kodachi, and Rose Ukyou.  I know the Church’ll want me hung for the Rose for Ukyou, but I 
couldn’t find a more appropriate flower.  Tiger is Ryouga, Hand is Tofu, Owl is Cologne, and Wrinkle is 
Happousai.  Gale is Soun, and the Sky is the Tendo dojo, or family, depending on the circumstances.  And 
yes, I meant Akane’s room when I said the pond.  Serenity is, of course, Kasumi.
	As you can tell from the end, I think I may just be continuing this one, unless I receive just too 
many nasty comments.  I’m gonna send this around the Church before I even attempt to post it on the 
R.A.A.C.  It my be entirely too strange, even for them.  Sorry about the delay, but I have to wrangle use of 
a friend’s computer to send this out.  Yes, it is shorter than I intended, but I just ran out of time after all of 
my tests and my computer deciding on its own to commit suicide.  I’m gonna have to reformat the hard 
drive.  Again.  
Until next time,  
Verjigorm.