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- 2007-1-20
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- 1970-1-1
累計簽到:391 天 連續簽到:1 天
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You know that they burned her horse( v8 N1 J5 E# M8 m. a2 J& |
before her. Though it is not recorded,3 m& T1 ~% X" N, H2 `" i: G! ?0 H
you know that they burned her Percheron$ p) T; }0 j* b9 Q
first, before her eyes, because you
+ }9 u5 i# {% u% f! {# {. C know that story, so old that story,
2 M+ K1 f# |! h$ t the routine story, carried to its# y: P1 K/ r; n: P
extreme, of the cruelty that can make
# A9 a( z& Y' K, g6 ]' @ of what a woman hears a silence,
z0 C+ L# g" ^ s4 l' r that can make of what a woman sees0 t0 h, w" j8 i! x9 N3 F
a lie. She had no son for them to burn,
. W" t b( i7 j for them to take from her in the world
9 w8 b5 H8 q% k not of her making and put to its pyre,( g/ R6 I, q- U& r
so they layered a greater one in front of
# N Z+ G. O6 Q% [: `, V where she was staked to her own——
" k5 O9 Z: p( _: } a as you have seen her pictured sometimes,
" `4 v. \* m9 X0 n her eyes raised to the sky. But they were) { B# y& p% |# h9 n
not raised. This is yet one of their lies.
( l. b; R% D8 r( I( T( s/ p* u They were not closed. Though her hands
8 v# _$ B9 t* o% |' M2 Z$ X were bound behind her, and her feet were
+ _" H8 s& `$ [ bound deep in what would become fire,
. M0 i, x9 q6 U* Z, _6 J she watched. Of greenwood stakes
3 d% \* t0 Y+ {3 R4 { head-high and thicker than a man's waist
1 v3 g! {4 ~/ r8 R5 A they laced the narrow corral that would not
/ }: q E Q T$ y* u$ s burn until flesh had burned, until
) p+ h: F) u0 n2 d' I" Y0 y bone was burning, and laid it thick
[ u7 T4 K* k4 t with tinder——fatted wicks and sulphur,
! V6 m2 [4 P. X( o2 T& o kindling and logs——and ran a ramp* B& v' D8 T# v( V( h/ ^: r6 x" F5 e5 @
up to its height from where the gray horse+ w# L( G3 _2 I! h. g
waited, his dapples making of his flesh, _. r; z. _. b, R- {0 L: Q: T4 Z
a living metal, layers of life4 r. D3 V8 ]7 I8 r7 ~6 \ Y) B
through which the light shone out
+ i3 |4 S4 f. O! k in places as it seems to through the flesh
( X8 l% N r7 t/ |4 W& R8 h1 y of certain fish, a light she knew
7 c8 G) I1 s0 J4 E* j as purest, coming, like that, from within.; _( r* |, l8 @! d2 w
Not flinching, not praying, she looked6 f/ O5 n+ V2 R( D! M8 B l
the last time on the body she knew
9 ^* X6 b& U1 n better than the flesh of any man, or child,
! L4 C# U+ X3 |8 i+ g6 T' l: { or woman, having long since left the lap" S2 |, M8 w" r3 I8 q1 J8 w
of her mother——the chest with its
% T$ Y2 {) p, Q% x# }! | perfect plates of muscle, the neck
" N+ n( \9 I# D, y, x) T' A% S with its perfect, prow-like curve,
! U" U [! |# d* T" s the hindquarters'——pistons——powerful cleft* Z G: m3 V) d) O
pennoned with the silk of his tail.- Y: j. H9 a X
Having ridden as they did together. }" v* ?) K1 a- y9 a0 {
——those places, that hard, that long——( C6 s$ a2 f* [* C
their eyes found easiest that day/ R9 O2 D2 @: ^
the way to each other, their bodies
$ Q) Z. |) o/ Q+ P" P: E% B wedded in a sacrament unmediated
# l( c7 y4 O; ]4 H) r, [1 K5 y by man. With fire they drove him
3 G0 d& P( y4 w up the ramp and off into the pyre9 l- Q5 o7 h" R% Y* Q2 c$ S
and tossed the flame in with him.
- c ]1 Q8 g2 o5 S This was the last chance they gave her7 A+ M7 z. e3 {$ {! F" z
to recant her world, in which their power
# t0 |( B0 P2 x7 R, f came not from God. Unmoved, the Men" \) U& C! M+ ~1 W5 e1 O
of God began watching him burn, and better,
1 V2 i/ X6 ^' b" J# s6 k watching her watch him burn, hearing- Y3 H) n8 [" y4 S- v
the long mad godlike trumpet of his terror,
# j. L- B: S- H6 n+ M his crashing in the wood, the groan
2 }( @ B2 @# [) d1 w( W* b of stakes that held, the silverblack hide,# W& ]" O" o5 D: P, v, s/ F7 `
the pricked ears catching first# l, A0 K- V. a: z9 h5 y0 K
like driest bark, and the eyes.
6 k: X5 {$ z6 h" f+ @ and she knew, by this agony, that she
+ R1 K( q) P& T) N- \8 }% j might choose to live still, if she would
! N' c) m$ _& N5 F5 h but make her sign on the parchment
# [8 R- r6 Q2 h they would lay before her, which now
; g% H, v; e( x0 N6 R7 f would include this new truth: that it
8 q R" n4 T0 r. ~& S8 s; o did not happen, this death in the circle,
2 x7 I( {6 p& i the rearing, plunging, raging, the splendid7 u0 p" r/ P9 t3 e2 `, x0 y
armour-colored head raised one last time
L% A* w& C9 t: z, U above the flames before they took him
* @1 H8 U" b7 J. t X( X: e( m ——like any game untended on the spit——into, i; s0 ~( E2 l* v: j! R% l
their yellow-green, their blackening red." _% f* s4 ]) U$ H
3 x# h6 R( a3 ?6 \- Q4 G& ?
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