peektuttut | (no subject)

Entry tags:

poetry,
wtf

(no subject)

"The boy stood on the burning deck

Whence all but he had fled;

The flame that lit the battle's wreck,

Shone round him o'er the dead.

Yet beautiful and bright he stood,

As born to rule the storm;

A creature of heroic blood,

A proud, though child-like form.

The flames rolled on - he would not go,

Without his Father's word;

That Father, faint in death below,

His voice no longer heard.

He called aloud: - "Say, Father, say

If yet my task is done?"

He knew not that the chieftain lay

Unconscious of his son."

-from Casabianca, by Felicia Hemans

...Huh. Don't want to ruin the end, but it's not pretty.

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...That's kinda depressing.

Kind of? It gets worse.

Show me.

All right, let me get my lit book...

""Speak, Father!" once again he cried,
"If I may yet be gone!
And" - but the booming shots replied,
And fast the flames rolled on.

Upon his brow he felt their breath,
And in his waving hair,
And looked from that lone post of death,
In still, yet brave despair.

And shouted but once more aloud,
"My Father! Must I stay?"
While o'er him fast, through sail and shout,
The wreathing fires made way.

They wrapt the ship in splendour wild,
They caught the flag on high,
And streamed above the gallant child,
Like banners in the sky.

There came a burst of thunder sound-
The boy - oh! where was he?
Ask of the winds that far around
With fragments strewed the sea!-

With mast, and helm, and pennon fair,
That well had borne their part-
But the noblest thing which perished there
Was that young faithful heart!"

...

I can't decide if I like it or not.

It's about a boy named Casabianca. He was the son of the Admiral of the Orient, and stayed at his post in the Battle of the Nile after the ship caught fire. Everyone abandoned ship but him, and it exploded, when the fire reached the powder kegs.

Took me a while to like it.

I got that, it's just... I mean, I get the whole waiting for your father thing, because he wouldn't be a good guy at all if he just ran off without checking to make sure his father was okay. But if his father really loved him he would have told him that if he gets in trouble that his son should go because he's all that's left and if he tries to fight that that's stupid, he's the only one left so he should at least make sure one of them survives even if he doesn't have anywhere to go or know what he's supposed to do without his father there and ends up stuck on an island with a stupid broken mecha waiting for someone to come rescue him.

That's what I think, anyway.

He was a kid. Just a little boy, thirteen or something. And his father was dead, and he was doing his duty. He may as well have been a soldier. He was the only one who stayed his post. I agree, his death was - pointless - but there was a certain...nobility in his staying. He went down with the ship. And his dad.

Mecha?

He still should have left, but if you're going to die for something, it should be family. Or a goal. But family's up there.

...That explanation got away from me at the end ♥

Yeah. I think so too. He didn't know his father was already dead; he was waiting for him.

I noticed, but you still haven't told me what you mean. :)

He should have gone to try and find him.

It's not really classified any more I guess, but if a purple-haired guy with a stick up his bum asks you you didn't hear it from me. Mecha are giant robots, basically. Ours were Gundams.

Yeah. I agree.

...Ah-huh. Okay. Well. Okay. Interesting.

Don't pretend like you care if you don't!

I didn't say I didn't care. I'm just deciding how strange it sounds.

So how strange is it?

Pretty damn strange.

It's totally normal to me!

Yeah, well. Super heroes and super villains are pretty normal to me. Fair trade, I guess.

Gundams are better.

If you say so. Personally, I'd shy away from the giant robots that could step on me.

We control them, silly! They don't just walk around on their own.

Yeah, but you could accidentally step on me in one! That's scary.

I'm too good to accidentally step on anyone~

Very comforting.

It should be. And I don't even have it now anyway.

Now, see, that is comforting.

Maybe to you.

Uh-huh.

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