The Farthest Shore

Written by Yixuan (Eason) Liu from Shanghai Starriver Bilingual School, Shanghai, China

A swarm of angels plunged from the sky

with a craving for my blood and 

a hunger for my hair.

Their wings carried white,

shining sand from the sea,

pelting my raw skin with a silky river of gems.

In their hands they held a sapphire mirror–

an emperor stared at 

me from its papery depths,

stealing my smile to wear on his empty face.

He stretched out his broken hand and

took my umbrella, biting off its twisted handle.

Fiery snakes slammed 

into my chest,

biting.

Poisoning.

Burying.

Becoming me.

Wind carried me to the farthest shore–

away from the angels and their shivering mirror.

Steel spines split from the barren soil,

anchoring an ivory tree

to the escaping clouds.

its glass branches, 

fracturing 

into pale, broken leaves,

reflecting a thousand me’s to blot the sky. 

I looked at my heart – it beat still,

carrying on, erratic 

with a new-found fever.

The tower radiated heat and steam–

and a bird fell from its arms, becoming a flower.

Its petals gently landed 

in my frozen hands,

blossoming once more into a fiery sunset.

it pulsated in a nauseating glow and

became the eye of the emperor.

He smiled with my lips and teeth and 

I stumbled back 

into the mirror depths,

smiling his proud, dazzling smile.