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- 2007-1-20
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- 米币
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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: u7 |6 B( R) h" v2 o1 e
before her. Though it is not recorded," p. V9 X! d3 p3 ` m: F( P
you know that they burned her Percheron: |& B7 }5 j: ^8 J0 u
first, before her eyes, because you
8 N% b; r0 L4 e$ l4 D know that story, so old that story,
/ n# ^6 E0 V5 t# }. { the routine story, carried to its0 ]' @$ I* G9 A( \
extreme, of the cruelty that can make
3 S# h5 }2 G0 u, x8 l. W/ m* K1 } of what a woman hears a silence,1 M5 x: E3 w3 W9 H) X2 X& k
that can make of what a woman sees8 ]0 u7 D/ m3 y0 |) J% E; ^) q' `
a lie. She had no son for them to burn,+ K% S# z1 y7 x6 |. `5 F- g
for them to take from her in the world
* b# m# m% ^" y j$ ? not of her making and put to its pyre,; u0 M! f4 K+ C/ C
so they layered a greater one in front of
' c: {) i$ J3 i* @( F' L, ^) r. G where she was staked to her own——
+ x" ]) F5 `& e% A) R; m2 { as you have seen her pictured sometimes,8 A: `& s+ M) \% ?& K! u
her eyes raised to the sky. But they were
+ t. K$ V7 m0 N9 m not raised. This is yet one of their lies.
% v! p; [. m) ?; l* b; S They were not closed. Though her hands/ ^' y; a. A7 N- K, X# O) l2 g* v
were bound behind her, and her feet were! p& ~$ M3 H5 v/ g$ G3 I
bound deep in what would become fire,
9 @. R) A" e$ r2 e she watched. Of greenwood stakes
3 w5 E# }% O0 k/ Z7 V5 ]! \ head-high and thicker than a man's waist
- l A" Y- W9 N6 B( \ they laced the narrow corral that would not
1 f7 j5 S; M2 p burn until flesh had burned, until
( }7 z: y# M2 F bone was burning, and laid it thick
, u% |# f @; ~) u% U7 E. W3 h7 S with tinder——fatted wicks and sulphur,
! D1 A* O5 z; Y5 f/ |, T( i kindling and logs——and ran a ramp
0 I! S0 p4 [, U% o1 G" v: U1 I up to its height from where the gray horse' J# v4 U& a7 J- C+ V, ^
waited, his dapples making of his flesh& N9 }" C2 E& S! A* h9 T
a living metal, layers of life U# [: \& A! d+ D* ~. s
through which the light shone out9 l& e/ p9 l' o; U R
in places as it seems to through the flesh4 S$ m3 E+ K$ S3 o4 A$ \6 |
of certain fish, a light she knew3 L' _6 C4 @( T/ t( k G
as purest, coming, like that, from within.
6 Z, Z: U \* U! K) g Not flinching, not praying, she looked% X. a+ ?! q) v, @6 d2 `4 h" y
the last time on the body she knew1 J7 ^5 B1 ?- Y ?. _$ c% q
better than the flesh of any man, or child,
R3 Z8 s# [7 T/ ~ or woman, having long since left the lap1 P: \ G( s% V# N- `
of her mother——the chest with its2 k' d# Q8 i g- j8 h" O; {
perfect plates of muscle, the neck1 ^8 V! d/ o1 y$ ^/ }( d
with its perfect, prow-like curve,
2 J1 i2 H8 ` Q5 \" J- I; s5 K the hindquarters'——pistons——powerful cleft/ |6 s3 k9 |- ^
pennoned with the silk of his tail.; l( H- R! }. a# S. O% G0 P
Having ridden as they did together4 c4 |% H* R: P0 p! y- n
——those places, that hard, that long——
/ M- G# S/ M+ Y! t' R9 { their eyes found easiest that day
3 e. W0 k$ z }8 j2 r* G the way to each other, their bodies! u* y. l- Y8 l3 c S4 I3 \
wedded in a sacrament unmediated1 ^; G s/ t: w- S
by man. With fire they drove him3 g( I% l* a: X2 B* Z5 ~1 A. E3 u
up the ramp and off into the pyre$ ?9 {. O# [( W' X; J8 {, e
and tossed the flame in with him.
8 M% H1 N1 Z0 j$ o7 F1 f This was the last chance they gave her' f* L( ?' T% D ]5 Z( w
to recant her world, in which their power- c M! I f ~" D0 W" p
came not from God. Unmoved, the Men$ Y' G4 L* k6 M2 E
of God began watching him burn, and better, Y/ ]" M" l4 s; a4 z
watching her watch him burn, hearing
9 C6 n: c) [8 s+ j the long mad godlike trumpet of his terror, b1 s' I) O4 q7 y/ }
his crashing in the wood, the groan2 u2 J# g! F$ G& \, G0 F0 x
of stakes that held, the silverblack hide,
( t( X+ m8 q; T the pricked ears catching first
. ~+ v4 \ o% {. I8 U like driest bark, and the eyes.
j+ x; j* {$ `7 f( @ and she knew, by this agony, that she
# x- Z3 a7 A6 x might choose to live still, if she would, c; M( k* o" b2 v5 o5 O1 `, [
but make her sign on the parchment/ \: y9 @. U' l2 R8 S- L
they would lay before her, which now
7 S3 M7 }% O2 {& x1 I' Y% g4 r would include this new truth: that it
8 z2 L1 i8 a# q# ], h* l5 A; | did not happen, this death in the circle,, q2 ^( A4 V* ^. m
the rearing, plunging, raging, the splendid
5 z, s4 n x" |2 s armour-colored head raised one last time) k1 [9 H/ u! r" K+ |. |
above the flames before they took him
# ~/ n0 Y# z1 ]+ B1 J ——like any game untended on the spit——into
6 X; K' H' n% V their yellow-green, their blackening red.
0 k4 D) Y* o" g( R+ D) A. ^. P+ |. Q+ H/ v5 U' A
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