A Reluctant Sayonara

« She must suffer to her last breath. (…) They’ll all soon be as Dead as 0-Ren Ishii. » « That woman deserves her Revenge. And we deserve to die. » From « Kill Bill Vol. 1 » I Two French girls in Paris one aged thirteen the other fourteen together take wing. The police bring them back home. Then hand-in-hand they jump from their seventeenth floor flat. They leave behind a note : « This life has nothing to offer. What are we living for ? » An Austrian socialist philosopher-journalist in Paris in perfect physical health lies down beside his terminally ailing English wife never to wake again together after bequeathing their papers and wealth not to the Socialist Party but to a Catholic charity. He leaves behind a long love letter his very last remember-me book. Till death does not do us part. A Stateless poet passes through Paris with his Spanish putative spouse and infant boy. Paris casts a covetous eye on the mother. She plans the poet’s murder and maims her son for life. The People’s protectors pressgang her and daily pound the poet to pulp. Vive ! la France ! Viva ! la Francia ! II A lone coyote trumpets over the sakura strewn snow A moanful flute tugs at nostalgic heartstrings Meiko Kaji comes on with her plaintive lilt : Urami yibushi We’ve not long to go in this void The still frozen air gasps through swishing slices Spurting Strüwel-Peter blood and bones cherry blossoms on the snow-clad parapet struck down by the lethally-chilled sheen of the Hattori Hanzo steel To kill there need be no will The will to kill resides in the sill of the vengeful white of the eye III Even if we can’t stand it any longer, Lady We’d rather not leave just yet in a hurry Would we see the likes of this world again Ever know what’s better than this domain Unknown to us the slow melodious dirge Tugs at us : stay yet a while, it whispers ! Who knows who’d be there to receive us Yes, yes, stay yet a while, little lady ! Hum a sentimental ditty Recall even a fated memory Revive some moments of levity : A friend a face an outing A little tenderness A tiny moment of harmony Together in this wilderness © T. Wignesan – Paris November 14 2007 (Rev. 2012) From: T. Wignesan Copyright ©: T. Wignesan – Paris November 14, 2007 (Rev. 2012)