Sonnets, sort of
Aug. 8th, 2008 11:32 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rainsometimesEr. Um. I have a feeling this is going to come across as somewhat pretentious, but there it is: I’ve written four sonnets about Usopp, Zoro, Sanji and Nami, set before they meet Luffy. Or, well, four sonnetlike poems at least, as the sonnet is a pretty strict form and I’ve taken some liberties with rhyme and metre, as well as simplifying the rhyming scheme. Feedback much appreciated on anything – rhythm, characterisation, word choice and what-have-you.
Title: East Blue Sonnets
Rating: G
Pairing: None
Flavour: Kinda serious
Spoilers: None (edit: well, none past Nami's background in the Arlong Park storyline). Set before everything starts.
Disclaimer: Though unnamed here, they all belong to Eiichiro Oda as part of One Piece, and are used without permission for the purpose of entertainment.
He’s come here since forever, since before
His memory holds. He’s spun a thousand tales
About the waves below, and so much more:
The nameless reaches where his father sails.
The ships pass by at times, but don’t come close;
It’s up to him to keep the people here
From choking on pure peace and stolid prose,
With splendid boasts and pranks beyond compare.
The first step seems impossible to take.
Yet someday he will follow ocean streams,
Sail far and wide (he hopes), prepared to stake
His life on going where Adventure gleams…
It sounds so good. He prays he’ll never wake.
To give up the sea would mean to give up dreams.
*
It’s not the sea he needs, it’s not the waves,
the roar and sigh of them; the seagulls’ call,
nor is it gold and silver that he craves –
there is a man he needs to find. That’s all.
He does not need companions: he can walk
The road alone, be strong in deed and name.
He shrugs at people’s stares and fearful talk.
The promise burns inside him like a flame.
But it’s too easy to get stuck on land.
The world won’t match the course his heart has set,
It twists and turns – too soft, like shifting sand,
and men will try to catch him in their net.
But he can’t break; can’t lose what he has planned,
no matter what. He’s broken no law yet.
*
The ships he sees don’t pass; they come here first,
Marines and pirates both; to have a rest,
To sate their hunger and to quench their thirst,
He’s seen so many crews; he’s not impressed.
And if he gazes out at times and sees
Another, sunlit sea - where they all roam,
Ten thousand different fish who live in peace,
In that abode, their legendary home,
Delicious all; where beauteous mermaids swim,
Most exquisite, so full of charm and grace;
Where dolphins leap, and hunger can’t step in -
- he knows it’s childish fancies, knows his place
is where an obligation’s holding him,
a debt he can’t repay. And so he stays.
*
She does not see the waves. She sees the gold;
She hears the clink of coins within her mind.
The treasures that those pirate ships may hold,
Call out to her, ‘Come, see what you can find.’
She’s good at this. She’ll smile and infiltrate,
Sneak through and make the grab – then run like hell.
Then, off to count the spoils, re-calculate,
And ponder how to reach the Grand Line well.
It will take charts and planning, luck and guile,
But oh! the catching, if the fish will bite!
She might use allies, for a little while;
she’ll take the lead while they will nod and fight.
Until it’s large enough, her hard-won pile,
To buy her village and get back her life.
Title: East Blue Sonnets
Rating: G
Pairing: None
Flavour: Kinda serious
Spoilers: None (edit: well, none past Nami's background in the Arlong Park storyline). Set before everything starts.
Disclaimer: Though unnamed here, they all belong to Eiichiro Oda as part of One Piece, and are used without permission for the purpose of entertainment.
He’s come here since forever, since before
His memory holds. He’s spun a thousand tales
About the waves below, and so much more:
The nameless reaches where his father sails.
The ships pass by at times, but don’t come close;
It’s up to him to keep the people here
From choking on pure peace and stolid prose,
With splendid boasts and pranks beyond compare.
The first step seems impossible to take.
Yet someday he will follow ocean streams,
Sail far and wide (he hopes), prepared to stake
His life on going where Adventure gleams…
It sounds so good. He prays he’ll never wake.
To give up the sea would mean to give up dreams.
*
It’s not the sea he needs, it’s not the waves,
the roar and sigh of them; the seagulls’ call,
nor is it gold and silver that he craves –
there is a man he needs to find. That’s all.
He does not need companions: he can walk
The road alone, be strong in deed and name.
He shrugs at people’s stares and fearful talk.
The promise burns inside him like a flame.
But it’s too easy to get stuck on land.
The world won’t match the course his heart has set,
It twists and turns – too soft, like shifting sand,
and men will try to catch him in their net.
But he can’t break; can’t lose what he has planned,
no matter what. He’s broken no law yet.
*
The ships he sees don’t pass; they come here first,
Marines and pirates both; to have a rest,
To sate their hunger and to quench their thirst,
He’s seen so many crews; he’s not impressed.
And if he gazes out at times and sees
Another, sunlit sea - where they all roam,
Ten thousand different fish who live in peace,
In that abode, their legendary home,
Delicious all; where beauteous mermaids swim,
Most exquisite, so full of charm and grace;
Where dolphins leap, and hunger can’t step in -
- he knows it’s childish fancies, knows his place
is where an obligation’s holding him,
a debt he can’t repay. And so he stays.
*
She does not see the waves. She sees the gold;
She hears the clink of coins within her mind.
The treasures that those pirate ships may hold,
Call out to her, ‘Come, see what you can find.’
She’s good at this. She’ll smile and infiltrate,
Sneak through and make the grab – then run like hell.
Then, off to count the spoils, re-calculate,
And ponder how to reach the Grand Line well.
It will take charts and planning, luck and guile,
But oh! the catching, if the fish will bite!
She might use allies, for a little while;
she’ll take the lead while they will nod and fight.
Until it’s large enough, her hard-won pile,
To buy her village and get back her life.
no subject
Date: 2008-08-18 06:23 am (UTC)I adored Zoro's but, oddly for me since it's about Sanji, I feel like the emotions in the last stanza really hit home in a way that we haven't really gotten for him since his leave-taking.
no subject
Date: 2008-08-18 11:22 am (UTC)I adored Zoro's but, oddly for me since it's about Sanji, I feel like the emotions in the last stanza really hit home in a way that we haven't really gotten for him since his leave-taking.
Oh. That makes me feel rather honoured.
Sanji's bit was the harder to write, possibly because I felt it needed to be about All Blue but we rarely see him talk or openly think about it in the manga after that. Then again, Sanji's often the odd man out for me in various thematical ways, even though I like him an awful lot. (Maybe that's even part of why I like his character...)