Author's note: First off, this is *NOT* an woman-hating poem, it is merely a one-hour string of caffeine and insomnia induced consciousness and hellish Hallowe'en horror. If the suggestions and intimations of unspeakable acts and mental psychoses bother you, stop reading now. You've been warned. ^_^ Shunsuke ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Ranma 1/2 : Hell Is Borne Of Three Women by Shunsuke -||| ---------------------------------------------------------------------- I I beg of of you, to me, please listen, Learn from me well, and avoid my fate, For you, I can see it is still not too late, To know that hell is borne of three women. "Fool!" you say, who did not see through, To know which way, which path to choose, I now know well, and how I did lose, But the game it still goes on for you. Though in my life, I played the fool well, I thought that life was naught but games, The devil be known by so many names, I played and lost, and am bound to hell. So if you be wise, please let me begin, I have a sorry tale of which I must speak, My time is short, and now I grow weak, The fiery gates open, and they beckon me in. ************************************************************ II "What be your name?" did I demand of the first, "Kodachi," she answered, her eyes filled with lust, As she clouded my mind, poisoned me with her dust, I thought it was she who was to be worst. She cradled me thus, held me in her arms, Poisons and herbs, potions and pills, She promised me much, to cure all my ills, Though still I would not succumb to her charms. She called out my name, her siren song called for more, I was her port, and to me she would dock, Her heart like a ship, my cold heart like a rock, I would not yield, and did she wreck on my shore. With ribbons and banners, she pronouced us wed, From the rooftops, I knew, she wanted to shout, So she danced on the air, I left her with no doubt, And the people looked upon her, as she held high her head. ************************************************************ III "What be your name?" did I demand of the next, "Shampoo," she replied, a wry smile on her face, Her eyes they held something, but what not I could place, It was so hypnotic, and it left me perplex'd. She did trick me and trap me, she played like a whore, I could not but resist, I did not know the touch, I knew not of her body, I knew not of such, The feel of a woman, how to make her cry more. She played a cat's game, she beguined the begun, But all that she tried, it did the reverse, She thought she could tempt me, a cure for the curse, But me celibate heart she could never have won. A trick bag, they call it, an attempt to deceive, So with a bag of my own, a brick, and a river, I said my goodbyes, and at the end did I give her, One last kiss of death, one she could not conceive. ************************************************************ IV "What be your name?" did I demand of the last, "Ukyou," she called, a smile and a sheen, A name I should know, but could not have foreseen, A long ago dream, or a ghost of my past. A tale of a dowry, obligation, and honor, Of ten long years, training and desperation, She did live as a boy, her feminine castration, Until at last affection that I showered on her. Gentleness that she showed, I was near overcome, Beautious, kind, and such goodness inside, From the rest of the world her true self she did hide, But for her sweetness and light, I would not be undone. A smell, oh so foul! How it stank, did the air! Though she would have been proud, she had taught me her trade, "Presentation is all once the choice has been made." (But it took me great skill to not burn the hair.) ************************************************************ V Now, I must tell you, t'was a tragic mistake, I rejected the three, anger, guile, and purity, They were my salvation, I can say it with surety, And now, I do fear, t'was my soul I forsake. "What be your name?" did I demand, they came near, "Akane," said one, her face filled with fire, "Nabiki", said one, a true trickster and liar, "Kasumi", the last, and my heart filled with fear. How they did play their game, a masterful blow, Destroy all my angels, my chance to be saved, Their evil like knives, on my soul they engraved, "Here dies a fool, a soul bound for below." Fool that I was, how my heart, did it ebb, I fell into their arms, I thought it was love, I thought only of one, the three's plan they thought of, I shall never be free, forever trapped in their web. ************************************************************ VI I sit here now, my soul, does it cry! For I was young, and a fool I had been, I thought it was love that I did win, But it was for naught, it was the means I would die. With my last breath, I beg it of thee, Do not let them in, no matter their call, If you give in, it is your soul that will fall, So know it is they, when it is they that you see. Learn it at the last, their names and their way, Learn from me their tricks, their lies and their sin, I tell you that hell is borne of three women, And it is upon your soul they will prey. Pray for me, I beg you, as they take up my soul, On this cold, and lonely, and dark, evil night, To steal me away, as three hellions take flight, And now, at last, as the damned shall I go. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- E N D ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Additional note: To "dance on the air" is an old euphemism for people who die by hanging, a reference to the way the victims kicked their feet as they struggled. This was before the "drop" was invented, and the victims strangled to death rather than having their necks broken.