Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Baku


Before you go to bed at night
say your prayers; say them right
then nestle in, under covers spell
and ever, always sleep; sleep well

But if a problem should occur
if you hear an angered word
or see a face with fangs in blood
just remember, this is but a dream
that’s gone wrong… that it is something
so easily solved

Remember, there are no such things as ghosts
Remember, there are no such things as monsters
Thoughts spoken to ease the child’s mind
Thoughts, naively conceived

Simply look above you there
and choose to see Baku
then permit him to devour
your every nightmare clean

Then reawake
in a refreshed state
by dreaming the sweetest dreams
You’ve ever seen

The Baku is a mythical creature that comes from the lore of Japan.  There are many different descriptions of what a Baku looks like.  The more modern description shows him to look like a giant tapir, having the body of a horse, the head of a lion and the legs and paws of a tiger.
They are the type of creature that lives mutually with humans.  Whenever a person awakes, after suffering a nightmare or bad dream, it is told that if that person calls on Baku, he will.  He’ll enter the dreamers mind and eat all the fragments of the nightmare up.  The human will then awake feeling refreshed and  it is told they will experience a very peaceful day.

7 comments:

  1. AW the story teller in me just loved this Fred!!I love mythical creatures of all sorts--so well crafted!

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  2. I love this, Fred--reminds me of that myth of the Sin Eater--or the Native American dream catcher that you can hang up over a child's bed to 'catch' the nightmares. Also like the mix of rhymed and unrhymed.

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    1. thanks Hedge, yes very similar to the dream catcher idea.

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  3. This is rather comforting. Like the gentle tone of the poem, thought it clearly is saying that there are such things as monsters and ghosts, and that Baku comes to take it away only if you _choose_ to see it. Very interesting.

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  4. Thanks for this.. v interesting in folklore and Baku is fascinating... cheers Fred

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  5. jesus fred! - this got me good!... like i am wishing you were my dad and you read this to me, including the footnote when i was a kid... but its a conceptaul gift most of all... i'm making use of this BAKU... from now on...

    well judged - pitched just right...

    nice work fred! :D

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  6. Wow that sounds like the way to be, just let the Baku suck back all the bad and become all nice and clean at your pad. Surely the best way to be live and let live easily.

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