What Atun Learned
by Mary Soon Lee
In his first month as King Xau's guard,
Atun learned:
 
That the other guards outmatched Atun
with every weapon save the bow;
that Li, their captain, outmatched him
as easily as a horse outruns a beetle.
 
That in every ten-hour duty shift
the guards spent two hours training;
that Atun would train for twice as long
until he met the captain's standards.
 
That, in matters concerning
the king's safety, the king's guards
(including Atun, new though he was)
outranked every officer in the army.
 
That King Xau was not the hero
Atun had imagined: in all that month,
no demon defeated, no magic wrought,
no monster slain, no battle fought.
 
That Xau bruised as easily
as other men, and, in private,
nursed a mosquito bite
as if it were a war wound.
 
That, in public, Xau never complained,
never showed when he was tired;
listened more than he spoke,
noticed more than he said.
 
That the guards ate breakfast
with the king and his family;
that Princess Ying, age three,
loathed rice gruel, craved sesame balls.
 
That the king took Prince Keng riding
twice a week, no matter how busy he was.
That the king trained with his guards
every day, no matter how busy he was.
 
That the king was busy every day;
that the king would sooner talk
to Tian, his elderly cleaning woman,
than to the dignitaries vying for his time.
 
That the dignitaries
were unlikely to guess this--
Xau attentive to all who approached,
high or low, man or woman.
 
That, in private, the guards bantered
with each other; that Li and Leong and Gan
bantered even with the king;
that, in public, the guards held silence.
 
That at the close of every shift
the king bowed more deeply
to his guards than he did
to visiting princes.
 
Even to Atun,
the least and most junior
of his guards,
Xau bowed as if to a king.
(First published in Star*Line)

 

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