I remember where 

her journey began.

Slithering,

Like a sliver of shiny silver,

Reflecting golden light 

gliding in water.

She was white-jade pale, 

pushed downstream by her luck 

to the pill of immortality. 

500-year magic slipped 

(just like that) 

into her stomach.

She became human,

And left our lake. While I, 

the small terrapin left behind

In the mushy sand 

beneath the currents,

stayed.

The poison of jealousy appeared

in a porcelain dish,

but I didn’t take it.

How could I?

I wanted to walk the path of righteousness,

And rid this world of demons.

Days passed like rapid waters of a river,

Years passed like gusts of wind weaving through a forest.

I refined my skills,

Like grinding an iron rod 

Into a fine embroidery needle.

Bones shifted,

Skin stretched,

Muscles pulsed and pulled.

My heart was thumping on my chest,

As if trying to break out.

My body burned and morphed and changed.

I saw the sky crack before it fell on me.

Then I was engulfed by the darkness.

I awoke on the bank of the river,

When I looked at the reflection in its mirror–

a human.

And a Buddhist I became,

Purging demons,

And cleansing this world of evil and greed.

But then I caught wind of her,

The white-jade snake.

She enticed a human,

A foolish human.

Such trickery and deceit!

What an idiot he is to fall for such schemes.

I have got to stop her.

And tried I did to break them up.

But my foolishness.

Had I not already known their fates intertwined?

Had I not known their love to be a compass, 

always finding their way 

back to each other?

My foolishness indeed.

I meant well,

I really did,

I never wanted to cause harm;

I simply wanted to defeat evil.

But the clutches of love spares no one,

Not even her.

But It’s too late to say all that now,

Our battle’s over,

The scars tattoed

And the gold-tainted lenses of righteousness removed 

from my eyes.

As clear as day,

I see 

no mortal, 

demon, 

god 

can ever break them apart.

But that time already departed, 

To a place beyond

Every horizon,

Star,

Cloud,

And ocean,

A place far beyond our reach.

Poor Macbeth learned

“What’s done cannot be undone,”

And how might I know that?

Well, you’d be bored too residing in the stomach of a crab 

eternally,

But now now, 

that is a story for another time.