“Antigone”

By: Bowie Zeng

My family is like ashes

The wind blows and it scatters

Curses make the dead restless, putting the living in torment

My brothers all come from the same family

A twisted family

I could not stand by and watch Polynices’s corpse become a bird's or beast’s breakfast

Burying him was the last thing I could do as a sister and an aunt

We may meet again soon

But Ismene is part of my family, too

My sister and my niece Ismene cautioned me not to break the city’s laws

I know it's risky

I wouldn't force her to be like me and I wouldn't undertake her guilt later

I do what I do alone

Creon's heart is made of iron

He won't admit that his reproachfulness is wrong

I should have known the price of courage

I had nothing left to do in this world, anyway

I should have taken control of my own fate

Such a death would be glorious

But it should not, will not end my devotion to my family