Foreword
The poem you shall read below is by E.E Cummings,and this movingly beautiful work caught my attention while I was listening to an old English love song which I'm not sure what the title is,but its chorus has the line,"First time I love forever". I hope you fall in love with the poem the way I did..and Tomoyo did.
Huh?
Moving on to the story...
***************
Tomoyo took her waiver from her notebook and ran upstairs to her Big Bro's room.She was about to knock when she noticed that the door was slightly ajar.
Carefully and quietly,she peeked into his room.
He was in front of his desk,reading a thick dog-eared book,and he was clearly absorbed on it.
She grinned wickedly and tiptoed quietly behind him.She suddenly covered his eyes."Guess who!"
Eriol laughed."Queen Elizabeth,are you taking me home?"
Tomoyo uncovered his eyes and sat on his desk."Hi!What are you reading?"
"A book of poetry.Our project for literature is to choose a poem which we would report about orally."he explained.
"What time will you finish?"she asked eagerly.
"Tomorrow,perhaps"He reclined on his seat."I'm still choosing which poem is the best."
Tomoyo grabbed the book and skimmed its pages."This one looks interesting."She pointed to a poem."Is the poet a jetsetter?"
"Somewhere I have never travelled."Eriol read aloud.He chuckled."Not really.Here,let me read it aloud for you."He took the book from her.
She wrinkled her nose distastefully."Bo-ring.Let's just play hoops."
"Just one moment."He cleared his throat."Listen.This is one of my favorite poems."
Somewhere I have never travelled,gladly beyond
any experience,your eyes have their silence:
In your most frail gestures are things which enclose me
or that which I cannot touch because they are too near.
Your slightest look easily will unclose me
though I have closed myself as fingers,
you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens
Touching skillfully,mysteriously her first rose.
Or if you wish be to close me,I and
my life will shut very beautifully,suddenly
as when the heart of this flower imagines
the snow carefully descending everywhere.
Nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals
the power of your intense fragility:whose texture
compels me with the colour of its ountries
rendering death and forever with each breathing.
I do not know what it is about you that closes
and opens;only something in me understands
the voice of our eyes is deeper than all roses
Nobody,not even the rain,has such small hands.
Tomoyo could hear Eriol's voice breathing life in every word that came out of his mouth while he was reciting the poem,especially in the parts when he would look at her to check if she was still listening.She could imagine him being the poet himself,dedicating the poem to her.
She imagined herself dressed in a royal purple silk medeival gown sitting in the balcony of a huge mansion surrounded by lots and lots of blood red roses.Eriol was standing before her,dressed in....tights?
Tomoyo shook her head.She couldn't think of a costume for her prince right now,but whatever he was wearing,he was looking spankingly good.
She continued her daydream.He was looking up at her,and he bowed."Good evening,my lady."
"Good evening,my lord."she greeted.
He looked up once again."I came out to voice out my solemn avowals of my affection for you,my lady,and I shall say it through a poem."
She giggled and cupped her face."Go on,my lord."
He gazed at her with heart-melting intensity."Kiddo."
She frowned.That didn't sound romantic.
"Kiddo!"Eriol snapped his finger in front of her face.
"Yes,my lord?"she replied dreamily.
"Lord?"Eriol frowned.
She blinked and looked around.They weren't in a balcony underneath the stars.Eriol wasn't her prince,and she wasn't a princess.She blushed."Er-I mean,lord,I forgot about my practice!"she stammered.
"I knew it.You weren't listening."he scolded.
"I was too!"she protested.
"Ok,so let's go play ball."he said,closing his book.
"I-I can manage all by myself."Suddenly she didn't feel at ease to play one-on-one basketball with her Big bro.The words PHYSICAL CONTACT were glaring in her mind like Hollywood neon sign boards.
"I thought you disturbed me to play?"he asked,completely puzzled.
"N-No,I-I.."She slipped her hand into her pocket and tossed a piece of paper down his desk."M-My waiver for the prom needs your signature as my guardian."
Eriol read the circular letter."I see.So your party will be celebrated the whole day in the beach,and the dance will happen that night at a small club by the sea."He took his fountain pen and signed his name.
"T-Thanks."Tomoyo stuffed the note into her jeans and hurried out of the room."C-Ciao!"
Eriol was puzzled by Tomoyo's behavior."Girls!"he groaned.
Tomoyo dribbled the ball and took a shot.It barely reached the net.
She couldn't concentrate on her game.Somehow,Eriol's deep resonant voice reciting the lines kept coming back to her mind.
"Nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals the power of your intense fragility."
Fragility.
She groaned.How foolish of her to imagine that the poem was about her.The last word Noah Webster will use to call her personality is fragility.
The words are better suited to REAL women.REAL ladies.Like her best friend,Sakura and her deceased aunt,Nadeshiko.
Or Kaho Mizuki.
She ambled towards the ball.Why was she suddenly acting this way?What's with her?
Why did she suddenly realize that her Big bro can look so suave and manly in his neutral-colored shirt and trousers?
Why did she suddenly find his voice very romantic-sounding and sexily husky?
Why was she suddenly not seeing her Big bro anymore?
In her eyes,the boy was Eriol Hiragizawa.
And good heavens,he was handsome.
"Oh god,what is happening to me?"She groaned."It was only a poem!"
A poem,it is,she thought.A poem that lit the little embers of her hero worship to him in her heart into something frighteningly deeper.
To be continued...
The poem you shall read below is by E.E Cummings,and this movingly beautiful work caught my attention while I was listening to an old English love song which I'm not sure what the title is,but its chorus has the line,"First time I love forever". I hope you fall in love with the poem the way I did..and Tomoyo did.
Huh?
Moving on to the story...
***************
Tomoyo took her waiver from her notebook and ran upstairs to her Big Bro's room.She was about to knock when she noticed that the door was slightly ajar.
Carefully and quietly,she peeked into his room.
He was in front of his desk,reading a thick dog-eared book,and he was clearly absorbed on it.
She grinned wickedly and tiptoed quietly behind him.She suddenly covered his eyes."Guess who!"
Eriol laughed."Queen Elizabeth,are you taking me home?"
Tomoyo uncovered his eyes and sat on his desk."Hi!What are you reading?"
"A book of poetry.Our project for literature is to choose a poem which we would report about orally."he explained.
"What time will you finish?"she asked eagerly.
"Tomorrow,perhaps"He reclined on his seat."I'm still choosing which poem is the best."
Tomoyo grabbed the book and skimmed its pages."This one looks interesting."She pointed to a poem."Is the poet a jetsetter?"
"Somewhere I have never travelled."Eriol read aloud.He chuckled."Not really.Here,let me read it aloud for you."He took the book from her.
She wrinkled her nose distastefully."Bo-ring.Let's just play hoops."
"Just one moment."He cleared his throat."Listen.This is one of my favorite poems."
Somewhere I have never travelled,gladly beyond
any experience,your eyes have their silence:
In your most frail gestures are things which enclose me
or that which I cannot touch because they are too near.
Your slightest look easily will unclose me
though I have closed myself as fingers,
you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens
Touching skillfully,mysteriously her first rose.
Or if you wish be to close me,I and
my life will shut very beautifully,suddenly
as when the heart of this flower imagines
the snow carefully descending everywhere.
Nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals
the power of your intense fragility:whose texture
compels me with the colour of its ountries
rendering death and forever with each breathing.
I do not know what it is about you that closes
and opens;only something in me understands
the voice of our eyes is deeper than all roses
Nobody,not even the rain,has such small hands.
Tomoyo could hear Eriol's voice breathing life in every word that came out of his mouth while he was reciting the poem,especially in the parts when he would look at her to check if she was still listening.She could imagine him being the poet himself,dedicating the poem to her.
She imagined herself dressed in a royal purple silk medeival gown sitting in the balcony of a huge mansion surrounded by lots and lots of blood red roses.Eriol was standing before her,dressed in....tights?
Tomoyo shook her head.She couldn't think of a costume for her prince right now,but whatever he was wearing,he was looking spankingly good.
She continued her daydream.He was looking up at her,and he bowed."Good evening,my lady."
"Good evening,my lord."she greeted.
He looked up once again."I came out to voice out my solemn avowals of my affection for you,my lady,and I shall say it through a poem."
She giggled and cupped her face."Go on,my lord."
He gazed at her with heart-melting intensity."Kiddo."
She frowned.That didn't sound romantic.
"Kiddo!"Eriol snapped his finger in front of her face.
"Yes,my lord?"she replied dreamily.
"Lord?"Eriol frowned.
She blinked and looked around.They weren't in a balcony underneath the stars.Eriol wasn't her prince,and she wasn't a princess.She blushed."Er-I mean,lord,I forgot about my practice!"she stammered.
"I knew it.You weren't listening."he scolded.
"I was too!"she protested.
"Ok,so let's go play ball."he said,closing his book.
"I-I can manage all by myself."Suddenly she didn't feel at ease to play one-on-one basketball with her Big bro.The words PHYSICAL CONTACT were glaring in her mind like Hollywood neon sign boards.
"I thought you disturbed me to play?"he asked,completely puzzled.
"N-No,I-I.."She slipped her hand into her pocket and tossed a piece of paper down his desk."M-My waiver for the prom needs your signature as my guardian."
Eriol read the circular letter."I see.So your party will be celebrated the whole day in the beach,and the dance will happen that night at a small club by the sea."He took his fountain pen and signed his name.
"T-Thanks."Tomoyo stuffed the note into her jeans and hurried out of the room."C-Ciao!"
Eriol was puzzled by Tomoyo's behavior."Girls!"he groaned.
Tomoyo dribbled the ball and took a shot.It barely reached the net.
She couldn't concentrate on her game.Somehow,Eriol's deep resonant voice reciting the lines kept coming back to her mind.
"Nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals the power of your intense fragility."
Fragility.
She groaned.How foolish of her to imagine that the poem was about her.The last word Noah Webster will use to call her personality is fragility.
The words are better suited to REAL women.REAL ladies.Like her best friend,Sakura and her deceased aunt,Nadeshiko.
Or Kaho Mizuki.
She ambled towards the ball.Why was she suddenly acting this way?What's with her?
Why did she suddenly realize that her Big bro can look so suave and manly in his neutral-colored shirt and trousers?
Why did she suddenly find his voice very romantic-sounding and sexily husky?
Why was she suddenly not seeing her Big bro anymore?
In her eyes,the boy was Eriol Hiragizawa.
And good heavens,he was handsome.
"Oh god,what is happening to me?"She groaned."It was only a poem!"
A poem,it is,she thought.A poem that lit the little embers of her hero worship to him in her heart into something frighteningly deeper.
To be continued...