Author's Note: I was recently thinking that Superman and Wonder Woman will face similar heartache and grief with Lois Lane and Bruce, respectively. This isn't a prelude to a Superman/Wonder Woman pairing – I don't see them as compatible – but I feel that they have a special friendship and bond because of their love of "mere mortals."
The poem I'm quoting is Lord Byron's "We'll Go No More A-Roving."
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So we'll go no more a-roving,
So late into the night,
Though the heart be still as loving,
And the moon be still as bright.
My love was dying, and I was powerless to save her.
I had loved Lois since the moment we met. I loved her fire, her ambition, her fierceness when chasing a lead. I loved her sarcasm, wit, and beauty. In many ways, she was everything I was not. As Superman, I show confidence, power, and authority. I'm more Clark than Superman, though. I'm still a polite, somewhat shy, and clumsy boy from the Midwest. She's a spitfire with a disdain for small towns and their morals and values.
But as I got to know her, I realized that Lois cherished many of the values and beliefs I held, clothing those beliefs with her trademark sarcasm. She too valued a stable relationship and being able to come home to someone you love, and someone who loves you unconditionally. She valued having a home to share with someone for the rest of your life.
And that is the problem. Under a yellow sun, Kryptonians age more slowly than humans. In fact, we don't know how much more slowly. I could live another hundred years, or a thousand, or I could be cursed with immortality. What I do know is that Lois does not share my fate.
For the sword outwears its sheathe,
And the soul wears out the breast;
And the heart must pause to breathe,
And love itself have rest.
I can hear her heart laboring in her chest. I hear her lungs rattling as she coughs weakly. I can see her cells, aged and worn, refusing to divide and renew themselves. Her hair, once so lustrous and thick, is now grey and wispy. Her voice raspy and weak. For all my strength, speed, and power, I am the most helpless man on the planet. I am watching the woman I love slip away, and I don't know if I'll ever be able to join her on the other side.
Though the night was made for loving,
And the day returns too soon,
Yet we'll go no more a-roving
By the light of the moon.
I love her no less than I did all those years ago. And though I have decades, centuries, millennia ahead of me, I will never let her memory go. I will never stop loving her.
I will always be hers and hers alone.
So we'll go no more a-roving,
So late into the night,
Though the heart be still as loving,
And the moon be still as bright.
My Bruce was dying, and I was powerless to help him.
I was not impressed with Bruce, or Batman as I knew him, when we first met. I found him to be arrogant, cold, calculating, distant, and all in all, incredibly infuriating. The first time he called me "Princess" I seriously considered swatting him into orbit.
In time he earned a grudging respect from me. I had never met, and doubt that I will ever meet, another non-powered mortal capable of holding his own in the company of otherworldly beings and godly powers. With nothing but his mind, will, and body, he had delivered us to victory so often that it became expected. In all my years on Themyscira, and now in Man's World, I have never met such a talented, dedicated and driven person. The amount of training and knowledge he has condensed into his brief lifetime…Gods, it's staggering.
Over time, I realized my feelings for Bruce had grown from respect to admiration, and I admit, to passion, and finally love. I have loved Bruce for many years, patiently working through his argument on why we could not be together. I smile to think about those points – dating within the team always leads to disaster…if his enemies knew he had someone she wouldn't be safe…amusing.
For the sword outwears its sheathe,
And the soul wears out the breast;
And the heart must pause to breathe,
And love itself have rest.
My smile falters as I recall one of the reasons he tried pushing me away. Perhaps the real reason – I am from a society of immortal warriors, and he was a rich kid with lots of issues. He may have addressed those issues over the years as best as he could, but even the Batman cannot escape my immortality.
I have prayed to my pantheon to strip me of my immortality, or to exchange it in favor of Bruce's youth so we could live our lives and love together. The gods did not answer my prayers, and though I long to question them, to challenge them for the life of the man I love, I refrain out of respect and duty.
Instead, I am cursed with watching the very best of us age, and slow, and suffer the ravages of time. I am cursed to watch the only man I found worthy of my heart pass on to Elysium. And I do not know if I will ever be able to join him on the other side.
Though the night was made for loving,
And the day returns too soon,
Yet we'll go no more a-roving
By the light of the moon.
I love him no less than I did all those years ago. And though I have eternity ahead of me, I will never let his memory go. I will never stop loving him.
I will always be his, and his alone.
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