The Dame of Endless Lore

Deep inside the forest not known to many folks

I ventured looking for the dame in countless rumors I heard overseas where I belonged

Beauty incomparable to Helen of Argus

Whose face launched a thousand ships,

Whose smile brought great heroes and demigods to their knees. 

I helplessly attempted and failed

To comprehend the beauty that is rumored to bring Helen of Troy to chagrin. 

Poetries and songs about her beauty 

Overflowed the great nations of the east and of the west 

Like a reckless flood devouring all in its path,

Like a never-ending rain that had the world under its terrors.

Her eyes rumored to put the greatest of minds in peril, 

Her hair flowing down her waist like an endless stream of honey covered in scarlet blood,

Her voice, rumored to have rested the weary and tired souls from the battle of Cannae, putting them in an endless dream they would never wake up from.

 

I have travelled the world twice and seen everything that could overwhelm any man's lustful eyes and fill it with content he had never known before.

But I was yet to see the beauty which inspired the countless barcarole and rumors I heard everywhere I went in search for more.

Immortality was a gift I was cursed with,

I have drifted through ages and witnessed great kings and warriors rise and fall. 

I have seen mankind rise from the dark ages

I have seen everything change with time

But this pure Belle's lore which lingered forever in every tongues did not! 

 

It has taken me ages to get to where I stand,

In the middle of an enchanted forest covered in mist so dense

I would fail to notice a cliff awaiting my demise two steps ahead of me.

I knew I was getting closer 

What I seek has never felt closer before

Time has stopped working like it usually does,

Seems like an eternity has passed since I entered this mysterious yet majestic forest.

The wilderness was calling me, 

It pulled me deeper and deeper into the forest not known to many folks.  

 

The mist started to clear as I kept moving

The brilliance of the starry sky above me embraced me with its cool breeze

Which seemed to be emitting from its very bright display.

Oh, how long has it been since I last saw the stars and the planets shining in the sky! 

Like a canvas sparkling with vibrant colors. 

I had forgotten how majestic of an art it was

Tears flowed down my weary cheeks, 

I laid down my fatigued and tired body.

My eyelids slowly shut in restitution as I continued to admire the work of art laying in front of my worn out eyes still grasping for a little more contentment.

 

All my fatigue and tiredness have vanished 

My body, light as though it was covered in phoenix feathers healing my mortal wounds,

My well rested eyelids opening to see a gem like I've never seen in all the eternity I've ever lived.

I was in the comforting arms of someone so familiar yet so distant. 

There was no barrier between our souls, 

Yet they were worlds apart.

I was in the arms of the treasure I spent all my life looking for

Like an infant baby resting in her mother's comforting arms.

Her emerald green eyes enchanted me beyond any restoration as I saw a glimpse of her consoling eyes staring at me with tenderness

Her smile was everything and beyond any prize that could satisfy a man's heart and overwhelm it with contentment. 

Her cheeks, like Montmorency cherry that is at its best when preserved for eternity. 

Her scarlet hair flowing down my face like a veil so tender, it could drown me in its majestic waves of love and despair. 

Her face, no wonder the face that brings Helen of Troy to chagrin

No words of all the languages spoken on earth could do any justice in describing its elegance and beauty. 

 

Her lips finally moved graciously to tell me the words I never expected to hear

From the voice that had completely taken over me 

I have been waiting for you 

She smiled 

Her smile was as soft and tender as anything could ever dream to be

She slowly lowered her head and kissed me.

I could feel my immortality being sucked out of my soul with every passing moment which felt like an eternity of endless pain and suffering

Yet every moment of her kiss was a thousand eternity worth of contentment and pleasure no man had ever known.

It's as if time was no more a threat to existence,

Her sweet kiss was beyond Time's deadly claws of destruction and despair it brought for everyone except for her. 

As my last breath of eternity was being sucked out of my soul by the dame of endless lore,

I opened my eyes and took a glance around me

Countless heads lying and hanging all around me

Heads with a smile of an eternity worth of contentment all around me 

Severed heads all around me

A stream of endless blood flowing all around me

 

Still lost being held in the arms of my priceless treasure,

I wanted to touch and feel her

My hand wouldn't move 

I had no hands! 

My body won't respond

I had no body!

I searched for my body while being held in the comforting arms of the dame

Who held me gently in her caressing arms

Only to find my crimson red blood dripping from what remained of me  

I finally spoke to her and uttered with all the remaining strength I had left in me.

Where is my body?

She looked at me with her comforting eyes and there was nothing but gracious silence

I looked around again at the severed heads all around me

The severed heads looked familiar 

The severed heads were all me 

I looked at her again with a smile of an eternity worth of contentment before I closed my eyes forever. 

She smiled 

I will be waiting for you again! 

 

-Emmanuel Zou