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<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=365939" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>The Girl in the Mirror</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">I was staying in the village<br>That was known as Banzhushan, <br>In the mountains, in the Province<br>That the Chinese call Hunan, <br>It was perched atop the mountain<br>You could reach, and touch the sky, <br>But there were no single women, <br>And the men up there were shy.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">They were poor, could offer nothing<br>To entice a willing bride, <br>They earned little from their labours, <br>And their houses, poor inside, <br>So the girls would leave to travel<br>Down the mountain to the plain, <br>Where they'd find a richer husband<br>Than the farmer, sowing grain.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">So the men would send out raiders<br>To the outskirts of the towns, <br>And they'd kidnap straying peasants, <br>All the women that they found, <br>And they'd target younger widows<br>Who would not put up a fight, <br>Then would carry them to Banzhushan<br>Protected by the night.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">I had met a village elder<br>By the name of Zhang Fan Cheng, <br>He was ancient, a magician, <br>One the Chinese call yāorén, <br>He invited me to dinner, <br>It was simple, shoots and rice, <br>He was dignified and courteous, <br>But caught me by surprise.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">In the further room, a mirror<br>Stood at length, both straight and tall, <br>The frame was wrought in silver<br>And it leant against the wall, <br>He showed it to me proudly<br>Then asked how much would I pay? <br>For just 5,000 R.M.B.<br>He'd sell it me, today! </div><div style="margin:10px 0">I reached out to feel the silver, <br>Was it fake or was it real? <br>He sensed my hesitation<br>Then he motioned, ‘You be still! '<br>And plunged his hand into the glass<br>The mirror let him in, <br>His arm up to the elbow<br>Against science, against sin! </div><div style="margin:10px 0">He reached his arm behind and pulled, <br>A girl came into sight, <br>She was standing in the mirror, <br>He was holding her so tight, <br>And she stared, while looking at me<br>And she said: ‘Qing bang bang wo! '<br>I could read it on her lips, and then<br>The wizard let her go.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">She had said: ‘Would you please help me! '<br>But I'd stepped back in the room, <br>She was nowhere near behind me<br>Just reflected, in the gloom, <br>And I saw a tear forming at<br>The corner of her eye, <br>The wizard pulled his arm out, and<br>She waved to me, ‘Goodbye! '</div><div style="margin:10px 0">I paid the man his money, and<br>I took the mirror down<br>On a wooden cart he lent me, <br>And I took it through Hunan, <br>Then I packed it on a train and went<br>Off speeding to Nanjing, <br>Where I kept a small apartment, <br>And I turned, and locked us in.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">I stood the mirror over by<br>A meagre wooden shelf, <br>Then I stood quite still before it<br>Hoping she would show herself, <br>And I tried to put my arm inside<br>Like he had done before, <br>But the mirror was unyielding, <br>So I stood there, and I swore! </div><div style="margin:10px 0">That night the girl appeared, <br>Standing right behind the glass, <br>And she pummelled on the surface<br>As if she'd be free at last, <br>But the mirror was ungiving, <br>And I couldn't hear her voice, <br>So I took a ball pein hammer -<br>It had given me no choice! </div><div style="margin:10px 0">She could see me through the mirror, <br>In alarm, she mouthed ‘Meiyou! '<br>But her beauty had beguiled me<br>Though I knew she'd shouted ‘No! '<br>I was fevered and impatient now<br>To set this beauty free, <br>So I swung the ball pein hammer<br>And it shattered, over me! </div><div style="margin:10px 0">She fell out through the broken glass, <br>Lay trembling in my room, <br>Bleeding, sobbing in the silence, <br>Like the silence of the tomb, <br>And she said she'd been imprisoned<br>Since the days of Qin Shi Huang, <br>Then she writhed upon the carpet<br>As her flesh turned into sand.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">I had wanted to release her<br>To relieve those tender tears, <br>But her body, once released took on<br>The last two thousand years; <br>She took one last, despairing look<br>Then withered up to die, <br>And for years I've sought the answer<br>To the only question - ‘Why? '</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>6 July 2012</div><div style="margin:10px 0">(Glossary -<br>R.M.B. - Ren-Min-bi - or yuan<br>Chinese currency.<br>Yāorén - magician<br>Qing bang bang wo - (Ching bang bang wor) <br>Please help me! <br>Meiyou - (May yo) - No <br>Qin shi Huang - (Chin Sher Hwang) <br>1st Emperor of China - 246-210 BC)</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><br />poem by <a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/by.php?a=David+Lewis+Paget">David Lewis Paget</a><div class=q>
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<script type="text/javascript" src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=citatepedia" async="async"></script><div style="display:inline-block" class="addthis_sharing_toolbox" data-url="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=365939" data-title="The Girl in the Mirror de David Lewis Paget" data-description="I was staying in the village
That was known as Banzhushan, 
In the mountains, in the Province
That the Chinese call Hunan, 
It was perched atop the mountain
You could reach, and touch the sky, 
But there were no single women, 
And the men up there..."></div>
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