***I don't own Inuyasha or any of the characters contained therein, I was just inexplicably inspired them.***


Because I Could Not Stop for Death


Because i could not stop for death
He kindly stopped for me.


-Emily Dickinson


I cannot stop.
I will not stop.

I watched my family die
people I cared about
turned inwards
destroyed from the inside
out.
Death was something we knew,
thought we wielded it as a tool.
But it came into our midst,
caught us unawares and
Death
betrayed us.

I saw my father fall
and felt the blade in my back
and I turned and found death in
my brothers guise.

Death abandoned us.

But I crawled from my own grave.

I did not stop.
I will not stop.

And while I lay
feeling my wreck of a body
coming undone,
Death was elswhere
destroying my village
ravaging everyone and
everything I have ever known.
in one fell swoop
it was all gone.

Still, my body falling, apart
and Death so close
I could feel it's breath
in the hairs on my neck,
I kept going.

I did not stop.
I will not stop

I have lived through
demons, swords, poisons
and I am not about to stop now,
now matter how beautiful
this latest mask
death has come to me in.

II.

I first saw you
in the graveyard
that had been my home,
performing final rites
for an entire village
of women and children.
And i saw something then
though I wasn't sure what.
Travelling with you it grew
clearer and clearer
and now I know.
I see it.
Death walks at your shoulder.

Holding your right hand
in his claws, Death could take you
anytime now.
You smile, but I see death.
You laugh, but I hear death,
and when you touch me,
I can feel death,
waiting.

There is so much life in you.
beautiful and fighting.
Oh you are warm!
But I can feel death
which has not conquered
me yet
still reaching for me
through your fingers.

Even if my thoughts whirl
Even if in this cage of bones
my heart, rebellious flutters
and stops, in your presence.
Even if part of me longs at last
to embrace the beautiful
mask of death
That is you,

I have not time.
I will not go through this again

I will not,
I cannot,
stop.


~Rachel Fox~ 01/02


_______________________________________

Once again, though InuYasha is not really my cup of tea, I find myself intrigued by the characters of Sango and Miroku. I fist wrote about Miroku's feelings in Another Day because he is such a paradox. He is one of the liveliest characters, yet he has been cursed to a premature death since before he was born. Shortly after I wrote aobut Miroku though I began to ponder Sango's feelings. She has already lost her family, and her village. Essentially everyone she has ever known or cared about is dead, and yet, now she is developing feelings for someone who has the magical equivalent of a terminal illness.

Poetically speaking, this did not come out as I had envisioned, it, but I am working on another one so maybe that will make up for it ^_^

Please send comments or constructive criticism to aerinn@hotmail.com Thanks for reading!