----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Elin Bjurvald" <elbju@yahoo.se>
To: <ffml@anifics.com>
Sent: Sunday, June 02, 2002 12:53 PM
Subject: [FFML] [Ranma][Poetry] Chinese Poems

FOREWORD:
The following poems are not meant to terribly deep or amusing. They are
intended more as a kind of 'what-if' exploration: what kind of poems I
think these characters would write, if they were to give it a try.
I wanted to give something of a traditional, formally bound feel to
them, although I quickly realised I can't really imitate the forms of
Classical Chinese poetry, which was my original intention. Still, only
recurring characters of Chinese nationality are used.
Comments are very welcome.

Disclaimer: The characters Cologne, Shampoo, Mousse, Pantyhose Taro and
the Jusenkyo Guide all belong to their creator, Rumiko Takahashi, and
are used here without permission.


CHINESE POEMS
by Elin Bjurvald


Cologne, I.

Opening the back door to the restaurant in the morning,
I am greeted by the tumbling spring wind.
It whirls the dust, litter and old leaves around,
And I feel the chill of change enter my bones.

This wind has the feel of an old friend of mine;
A friend, yet it carries a knife in its arms.
The battle it heralds cannot be won:
The hair that it plays with is snowy white.    

This crowded place is far from the forests at home,
And the wise crone, far from the girl she once was. 
But the spring wind still rolls through the city streets,
And I am still filled with joyful surprise.


Cologne, II

Spring is back, as all can see,
Half-baked fools and clever crones.
As it's wasted on the young,
Youth is crackling through my bones.

I was given, once, a chance:
To know all things that would be.
But where is the fun in that?
Spring is still surprising me...


*

Shampoo

I am as swift as a whistling arrow,
   But my love is swifter than me.
I am as strong as the rushing river,
   But my love is stronger than me.
I am as deadly as a sharpened sword's edge,
   But my love is far more terrible than me.
I am as cunning as the fox in the thicket,
   While my love is as men tend to be.

He is shy, and so he dithers,
   But I've seen him fight for me,
Fears of cats and pretty women;
   He'll outgrow them soon, you'll see.
He will leave this petty country,
   Where he never could be free,
And my happiness will grow daily:
    That's how things are meant to be.

"So there!"

*

Mousse, I.

The scent of the woods,
When the rain is gone,
Will smell sweeter still,
When my love is won.

<whap>                       
"Mousse, would you mind _not_ alluding to my great-granddaughter in
everything you write?"
(glares)"I don't see how that is any business of yours."
"When you declare it out loud like that? It _is_ getting awfully
repetitive, sonny."
"Hmph."
"Of course, I don't know if you _can_  put down four whole lines without
her in them somewhere. Haha!"
"Hrrmph."

Mousse, II.
(After several tries.)

The storms have passed, the air is fresh,
A lark flies high above the trees. 
She calls and calls - I don't know why;
So quiet - not a single breeze...

*

Pantyhose Taro

(frowns, scratches his head: "poetry? how wussy..."
grins: "aha! got it!")

When I fight, it's like a roar up to heaven,
A golden lion, limbs uncurled,
Fiercer than dragons, slyer than the tiger;
When I fight, I can rule the world.

                        (evil chuckle)

*

The Guide, I.

The springs look peaceful today, surrounded by autumn mists.
There isn't a sound from the forests: there isn't a chore to be done.
I'm smoking my favourite pipe, my daughter is munching a rice cake,
Everything's quiet, ordinary, far from adventure today. 

We live in a dangerous place, with plenty of tragic stories.
Still, that is not so unusual. And rice must be earned somehow.
If you should visit this valley, this is what I can tell you:
Listen to warnings, watch where you're going, and always learn how to
swim.


The Guide, II.

Sir, you must watch your step here. Is very bad you fall in.
Take body of tragic drowned one, and that just to begin.
Sir, you get turned into story, you no can escape from it;
Always must be entertaining, and do what story seem fit.

Very nice.  Prompts me to include someone... ^_^

The Lech

Pretty girls, pretty pretty girls
To feed my hentai power
I must grope pretty pretty girls
My every waking hour

Bras and panties, panties and bras
What a haul!  What a haul!
Uh oh, here come their owners!
I'll let my two idiots deal with them all

I am a lonely hentai
Lonely as can be
Why does Ranma have to beat me up
and take my fun from me?


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