Disclaimer: These are Rurouni Kenshin-inspired poems. The poet is not making any money out

of this. The characters of Rurouni Kenshin belong to Watsuki Nobuhiro, Shounen Jump, and

Sony and others that should be mentioned but weren't.

Little Boy Soujiro

by ANS

I wanted to be the best,

my name to be known and spoken by all.

I wanted life's glass cup to teem and overflow with happiness,

never to shatter and slip from my hands.

I wanted to wield power as no man had ever dared before and, 

in doing so, save others from the cruel grasp of guileful Fate. 

I wanted to save myself,

escape from Fate's fingers that extend as if to smother only me.

I wanted. so many things from this world.

But the world was not enough to make all my wants come true.

I wanted to serve Him,

in gratitude for saving a life, my life, however bleak it had 

seemed.

I wanted to follow Him,

fit my slippers into his footprints and draw strength from their

indelible form.

I wanted to learn from Him,

master the workings of an assassin's mind.

I wanted to become Him,

take a place of honor by his side and have my name, bound to 

"Shishio", sung from every corner of the world.

But His name, His cunning, His skill were, I found, not enough to make my

life whole.

In the end He left me, an orphan twice over, as Death came yet again in

the name of Fate.

I wanted to get away,

walk on as my feet make prints of their own.

I wanted to think,

for in thinking, my sword-fighter's hands will never be defiled.

I wanted to seek the truth,

whatever it may be and whatever it may bring.

I wanted to remember still,

for in remembering, I may yet feel the pain of their beatings, 

of my screams, of the killings that I myself had done.

I wanted my life back,

the boy Seta Soujiro yet to be born and yet to have all the happiness in

this world.

I wanted. not to want anymore,

for in not wanting, the tears may finally flow.