Poem: "flute's song"
Jan. 3rd, 2013 04:53 pm![[personal profile]](http://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithThis poem fills a square on my card for the ![[community profile]](http://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
hc_bingo fest. This fest encourages the creation of boundary-pushing material that explores what happens when things go horribly wrong and people actually care about each other. Remember, things always go wrong; what matters is how you deal with that. Some of the content may be NSFW. Read the FAQ and rules here. The signup post is here. I'm hoping to attract some new readers.
The following poem belongs to the series Kung Fu Robots. This is science fiction with an oriental flavor. It features a group of robots who were designed for war ... but decided to pursue other things instead.
Fandom: Original (Kung Fu Robots)
Prompt: Deprogramming
Medium: Poetry
Wordcount: 183
Rating: PG
Warnings: No standard warnings apply.
Summary: A captured robot is reprogrammed to kill, then rescued by friends and deprogrammed.
Notes: Angst. Morality. Enlightenment. Questions of free will.
"flute's song"
flute had been captured
by the officers who once
commanded robots
they imprisoned flute,
cracked open its body, and
reprogrammed its mind
they erased all that
flute had been or remembered --
all, even the Way
then they programmed flute
with the sundry arts of war
and sent it to kill
but flute did not kill:
something in it resisted
the evil programs
the other robots
found flute and rescued it then,
erasing its code
what was and was not
would be again -- a flute's song
recalling itself
the kung fu robots
did what they could to restore
and deprogram flute
but for a long time
there was only the silver
shell of flute's body
that was all right, though:
it is emptiness that lets
a flute play music
where there's emptiness
music must follow and then
the Way will be found
the robots waited
through the shadows and silence
for flute to return
then flute's voice sang out
sweet as birdsong through bamboo,
ever familiar
saying, "the Way that
can be lost is not the Way!"
flute was enlightened
hc_bingo fest. This fest encourages the creation of boundary-pushing material that explores what happens when things go horribly wrong and people actually care about each other. Remember, things always go wrong; what matters is how you deal with that. Some of the content may be NSFW. Read the FAQ and rules here. The signup post is here. I'm hoping to attract some new readers.The following poem belongs to the series Kung Fu Robots. This is science fiction with an oriental flavor. It features a group of robots who were designed for war ... but decided to pursue other things instead.
Fandom: Original (Kung Fu Robots)
Prompt: Deprogramming
Medium: Poetry
Wordcount: 183
Rating: PG
Warnings: No standard warnings apply.
Summary: A captured robot is reprogrammed to kill, then rescued by friends and deprogrammed.
Notes: Angst. Morality. Enlightenment. Questions of free will.
"flute's song"
flute had been captured
by the officers who once
commanded robots
they imprisoned flute,
cracked open its body, and
reprogrammed its mind
they erased all that
flute had been or remembered --
all, even the Way
then they programmed flute
with the sundry arts of war
and sent it to kill
but flute did not kill:
something in it resisted
the evil programs
the other robots
found flute and rescued it then,
erasing its code
what was and was not
would be again -- a flute's song
recalling itself
the kung fu robots
did what they could to restore
and deprogram flute
but for a long time
there was only the silver
shell of flute's body
that was all right, though:
it is emptiness that lets
a flute play music
where there's emptiness
music must follow and then
the Way will be found
the robots waited
through the shadows and silence
for flute to return
then flute's voice sang out
sweet as birdsong through bamboo,
ever familiar
saying, "the Way that
can be lost is not the Way!"
flute was enlightened
![[identity profile]](http://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2013-01-06 06:43 am (UTC)Okay...
Date: 2013-01-06 08:14 am (UTC)Re: Okay...
Date: 2013-01-06 05:42 pm (UTC)Re: Okay...
Date: 2013-01-06 06:40 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-01-03 11:16 pm (UTC)Inter alia, interesting apparent defiance of physical law there:
they erased all that
flute had been or remembered --
all, even the Way
then they programmed flute
with the sundry arts of war
and sent it to kill
but flute did not kill:
something in it resisted
the evil programs
(Typo: can be lost in not the Way!")
Thoughts
Date: 2013-01-03 11:23 pm (UTC)In humans, not all memory is stored in the brain, or in the parts of the brain where it is expected to be stored. There are subtler aspects to memory, and identity, that sometimes behave in ways we do not expect.
If a robot is sentient, then correspondingly, there is more to it than merely its code. Some parts of code might become hidden, or restore themselves unexpectedly; or the soul might lap over into the body in ways that are not precisely code.
There are things that we do not know about ourselves and others, and sometimes those are quite similar things.
>> (Typo: can be lost in not the Way!") <<
Fixed, thank you!
(no subject)
Date: 2013-02-20 12:32 pm (UTC)<3 That's my favourite line. The poem itself is... well, it reminds me of a flute which is incredibly fitting. ^-^ There's something very delicate and yet strong about it. And flute seems like a wonderful character. ^-^
Thank you!
Date: 2013-02-20 06:37 pm (UTC)I'm glad you like it.
>> The poem itself is... well, it reminds me of a flute which is incredibly fitting. ^-^ There's something very delicate and yet strong about it.<<
Yay! I was thinking about eastern flute music when I wrote this, that soft breathy quality.
>> And flute seems like a wonderful character. ^-^ <<
These robots tend to have a very sweet note about them.
If you haven't already found it, you can read the rest of this series at:
http://penultimateproductions.weebly.co