[ but she's already beginning to wonder if it will be metaphorical as the rest β which alina can barely follow. she hadn't been schooled in literature. she'd been schooled at ana kuya's knee in mapmaking and drawing in a way that made her practical and not much else.
but she thinks she understands. even power itself cannot force her into anything. but it doesn't feel that way, to her. it feels like a force she can't resist. then again, she supposes that gilia's metaphor accounted for that too.
what would it have been like, to have a mother to say these things? alina shies away from the thought. it's wrapped in the thorns of grief. she can't bring herself to touch it. ]
Two sailors were standing on the deck of their ship.
The first looked down into the water and said, "The water is blue, see on the horizon, it is almost exactly the same."
The second looked down and disagreed, "See how the light hits it? The water is white!"
Hearing their voices and debate, a fish rose to the surface, shaking his head at them both he said: "But down below, the water is green."
Then a cloud was passing, and said: "No, no, I see all the ocean, it is grey."
Eventually, the sun began to set and said: "The water is whatever color I wish." And turned all the sea purple and pink, yellow and orange.
They all debated so long, so deeply, that finally the Sea-Father could stand no more of it, and sent a whale, the greatest of all its creatures to the surface: "Fools! Look again! The water never had any color at all!"
And he rose and fell in the water with a great splash so that everyone could see the water splashing and see at last, the whale was right. The water never had any color at all, and they just thought it had. A hundred eyes from every height, and yet none of them ever had the right of it, just because they looked and did not think.
You are the water. Everyone will look. Everyone will guess. They will make assumptions and think they control you.
They do not. They look, but they see nothing. What you are, was always yours alone.
Remembering that when the whole world looks upon me and thinks they know anything about me at all, is all that has kept me sane, some days. They will say awful things about me, too.
I wish I knew, I do not know very much myself. I sit often and try to think of the person I wish to be, what I wish to give to the world and what that shall mean to me.
But the most important part is that even if they want to say very much, the truth of it is yours, and yours alone.
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[ but she's already beginning to wonder if it will be metaphorical as the rest β which alina can barely follow. she hadn't been schooled in literature. she'd been schooled at ana kuya's knee in mapmaking and drawing in a way that made her practical and not much else.
but she thinks she understands. even power itself cannot force her into anything. but it doesn't feel that way, to her. it feels like a force she can't resist. then again, she supposes that gilia's metaphor accounted for that too.
what would it have been like, to have a mother to say these things? alina shies away from the thought. it's wrapped in the thorns of grief. she can't bring herself to touch it. ]
no subject
The first looked down into the water and said, "The water is blue, see on the horizon, it is almost exactly the same."
The second looked down and disagreed, "See how the light hits it? The water is white!"
Hearing their voices and debate, a fish rose to the surface, shaking his head at them both he said: "But down below, the water is green."
Then a cloud was passing, and said: "No, no, I see all the ocean, it is grey."
Eventually, the sun began to set and said: "The water is whatever color I wish." And turned all the sea purple and pink, yellow and orange.
They all debated so long, so deeply, that finally the Sea-Father could stand no more of it, and sent a whale, the greatest of all its creatures to the surface: "Fools! Look again! The water never had any color at all!"
And he rose and fell in the water with a great splash so that everyone could see the water splashing and see at last, the whale was right. The water never had any color at all, and they just thought it had. A hundred eyes from every height, and yet none of them ever had the right of it, just because they looked and did not think.
no subject
no subject
They do not. They look, but they see nothing. What you are, was always yours alone.
Remembering that when the whole world looks upon me and thinks they know anything about me at all, is all that has kept me sane, some days. They will say awful things about me, too.
no subject
no subject
But the most important part is that even if they want to say very much, the truth of it is yours, and yours alone.