Note: I wrote this for the challenge "Shakespeare" on lj. My thanks go to HBB for her help. I hope you enjoy.
Me and Thee and a Summer's Day
By Monika
Hutch was happy. Starsky lay beside him on the mossy ground, tucked safely in a warm blanket. It was their first picnic after Gunther's assault.
"Everything okay?" Hutch fingered a single curl and tugged gently.
"I'm no invalid, ya know," Starsky answered, edging closer to Hutch. Looking at the blue sky, he said, "It's such a gorgeous summer day. That cloud looks like Dobey. That could be his belly…"
Hutch chuckled. He shooed an insect away and turned his face toward the sun, enjoying this special day. Starsky had survived, that's what mattered.
"Hutch?" Starsky grabbed Hutch's hand.
"Yeah?" Hutch looked at his friend.
"I'm glad I made it." Starsky nodded.
Squeezing Starsky's hand, Hutch remembered the sonnet he'd learned at school. "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" he started.
"Huh?" Startled, Starsky released Hutch's hand. "Is that a love poem? Somehow it sounds familiar."
"Shakespeare wrote it – and it stayed in my head." Hutch said. He started reciting the sonnet.
"Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate."
"That sounds beautiful. Go on," Starsky said, closing his eyes.
"Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date."
"It was May when it happened." Starsky said quietly.
Hutch nodded and went on. He wondered why he had never forgotten about the words. Now they fit his mood perfectly. He ended,
"But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this and this gives life to thee."
"I love Shakespeare," Starsky said wholeheartedly. "And not only him."