Entendre

7.2: Jade Green

Deep in the jungle
is where my home lies.
Silent, peaceful, uneventful.
That was one way to describe it.

It also hid the violent warriors,
sadists, from the world.
In the jungle, there are no laws
to restrain a meaningless morality.

I grew up, seeing the children around me
being trained to battle against those who
tried to exterminate us out of our own land—
like pests, you know? How cruel it is.

I believed that the people outside
our land were barbarians,
without even looking at my own;
I believed we were the right ones.

As the chieftain's son, everyone expected
that I be able to defeat the strongest
of our tribe—and I was only a child.
They expected too much, but I didn't worry.

It never crossed my mind that maybe
it wasn't normal, what we were doing.
Hosting fights for entertainment,
and shedding each other's blood for fun.

It was madness—I only realized this flaw
once I sat by myself in the river, soaked
in the blood of my friend who I killed;
whose death made my father proud.

My reflection scared me—humanity?
We were monsters, all of us in the tribe.
Did we always look like this? We were no different
from cannibals who fed each other to live.

Was everyone deluding me into it?
Was everyone lying? Were the barbarians
not the outsiders...
But us?

It was maddening! I couldn't accept it!
I was desperate to know the truth
about this world—who do I believe in
if all I've been fed by everyone were lies?

There was not one person
to save me from the treachery.
I was not hidden from anomalies—
I was living with it.

How wrong was I?
I wanted to know.
Desperate, I ran away
from the tribe.

It was when I met her.
She comforted me at night
and guarded me in the morning.
She led me back to my home.

She told me it wasn't right
to run away from my problems;
she said that I had to face them—
she was Mother Nature.

Mother Nature was... honest.
She didn't lie—never did,
nor did she disappoint;
she was the perfect friend.

There was no point in
listening to the lies
of those around me.
Mother Nature was there.

She knew everything.
She was everywhere.
She protected me,
and answered my calls.

She was my solace,
my mother, perhaps;
but it was already in her name,
wasn't it?

She told me to be obedient,
to wait and follow orders,
to be good and to stay,
for fate will work in time.

I trusted Mother Nature
with my life. She was my
savior from this world,
and in my mind I knew that.

As the chieftain's son, I followed,
even when they told me that
I would be arranged to marry
a woman whom I don't know.

What choice did I have?
I was the tribe's future,
their representative outside;
I didn't deserve a choice.

Mother Nature told me to smile
and accept this imprisonment.
In the end, and maybe for an eternity,
there will never be true liberty.