PARADOXICAL

THE GENERAL

A true story



the general was a total disciplinarian

his wife and four children all feared him

at the dinner table he treated them like soldiers

every movement every word were measured



when the four were all grown up

the general was blessed with a fifth child

a daughter much younger than the rest

who would change things



in his old age the general

shifted from rules to recreation

regimentation to affection

at the twilight of his life he became more gentle



the daughter was not like the rest

she did not fear the ‘general’

she saw a father and a friend

she spoke at will casually and frankly



she needed no permission

to stand up and reach out for the rice

unlike the rest of the four

she was as spontaneous as a butterfly



she would criticize her father-general casually

the four would look at each other

but the father just smiled

suppressing the general in him



she began criticizing him in front of the rest

his coldness, the tense silent dinners

the four were shocked but silent

the general just smiled



he did not defend himself

she in truth melted the general in him

and made the father surface

soon he understood his folly of four decades



he gave in to her demands so easily

the four looked at each other in awe

seeing a young sister dominate the dinner table

they were confused how to act



the general liked it that way

that someone would ‘discipline’ him in his old age

and so the youngest became the queen

only because the general finally became a father



in the end the four came out of their shell

slowly they began to talk for the first time in decades

slowly dinner became warm and casual

slowly they became children not soldiers



the general instantly unlearned

all the lessons he had learned in a lifetime

from the military academy

his daughter taught him new lessons



within half a dozen dinner conversations

he abandoned the soldier in him

embracing the father in him

and so the light illuminated a home



eastwind [x1250]

posted by Resty Odon  # 2:48 AM