This is one from a series of short epigrams entitled: "Coffee House" inspired by Al Raqis.
On the Orient
She explained it to me; “To understand the Orient, you have to understand Opiates. The trade by which government funds itself and controls the population. It is not spoken of publicly although it is ubiquitous, signs of it are everywhere. Addiction is about control. Who is in control of Self, of Will, this is through martial arts forms, dance, conquest, relationships, all facets of life. There is symbolism everywhere which relates to it. Chasing the Dragon. Life is stress, and so any place where relaxation is necessary, to step back from the world, in a safe house, or in a dragons den where businessmen discuss their matters and relax, together, pleased to be working for mutual benefit and not competing at war, a charlet house where women crafted in skills equal to the allure of soporific smoke may be experienced without the complexity of a marriage relationship, which for many men is preferable. There is no legitimacy in this just as there is no legitimacy in the police enforcing their rules upon people whose ways are as equals and whose culture goes further into antiquity than any police or government. Heritage encompasses all of this just as Aspirations to achieve great things fly high above it.”
I looked into her turtle face; blue-black eyes peering out from folded parchment skin. Her voice was at once dry, cracked and grating yet poetic, the rhythm a lullaby, the grain in that hoarse husk was pure, liquid blue. Her eyes were the same darkness. I knew then, I was talking with no ordinary mortal woman, but one who had lived through many lifetimes of extreme experience and who had yet retained or acquired a harmony, a lightness of being, a wizened one whose youth was more evident than her age despite her bodies antiquity. What secrets she held!
She explained it to me; “To understand the Orient, you have to understand Opiates. The trade by which government funds itself and controls the population. It is not spoken of publicly although it is ubiquitous, signs of it are everywhere. Addiction is about control. Who is in control of Self, of Will, this is through martial arts forms, dance, conquest, relationships, all facets of life. There is symbolism everywhere which relates to it. Chasing the Dragon. Life is stress, and so any place where relaxation is necessary, to step back from the world, in a safe house, or in a dragons den where businessmen discuss their matters and relax, together, pleased to be working for mutual benefit and not competing at war, a charlet house where women crafted in skills equal to the allure of soporific smoke may be experienced without the complexity of a marriage relationship, which for many men is preferable. There is no legitimacy in this just as there is no legitimacy in the police enforcing their rules upon people whose ways are as equals and whose culture goes further into antiquity than any police or government. Heritage encompasses all of this just as Aspirations to achieve great things fly high above it.”
I looked into her turtle face; blue-black eyes peering out from folded parchment skin. Her voice was at once dry, cracked and grating yet poetic, the rhythm a lullaby, the grain in that hoarse husk was pure, liquid blue. Her eyes were the same darkness. I knew then, I was talking with no ordinary mortal woman, but one who had lived through many lifetimes of extreme experience and who had yet retained or acquired a harmony, a lightness of being, a wizened one whose youth was more evident than her age despite her bodies antiquity. What secrets she held!
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