Author: Lucinda
rating: pg/pg13
main character(s): William, Dru
disclaimer: I hold no legal rights to any characters that you recognize.
distribution: RedsSoulMates, TNL, Paula - anyone else ask please.
note: for Jinni's Poetry Quote Challenge #1.
"Because I could not stop for Death,
He kindly stopped for me;
The carriage held but just ourselves
And Immortality. "
-- Emily Dickinson - Because I could not stop for Death
* * * * * * *
He'd been frantically trying to capture Cecily's beauty in words, trying to describe her grace, her fair skin, her bright eyes that gleamed like smooth jewels, her hair that fell like a glowing cloud about her shoulders... To put her wondrousness to the page, preserving that image for eternity. He'd failed dismally. Repeatedly failed. Pages of words that fell short of her brilliance, her effulgent charm...
There were only a bare handful that he might be willing to let her see. Only a few worthy of those lustrous eyes. Perhaps these words, humble and inept as they might be, could win a smile from her? A kind word?
Cecily was wonderful, a gift of God to this wretched and dismal world, and he could but dream for a moment... well, he'd dreamed of more than a moment with her. But that wasn't very realistic. Maybe these words would win that moment? A single moment, out of all the moments of forever, of her attention.
And he stood there, heart clenching inside of him, barely daring to breath as she looked at the pages, her skin like warm ivory as she handles the pages of his words. Those incomparable eyes scanned his words, her lips moved slightly as she read them. Hope was almost painful inside him.
"These are dreadful. They couldn't..." She looked at him, her eyes widening slightly, and she pulled in a breath, almost visibly pulling away from him without moving. "You wrote these... about me?"
"yes." It was a bare whisper, chocked out by an unnamable dread. William looked at Cecily, certain that she wasn't finished speaking.
The pages were flung at him, falling into the air, twisting and turning like clumsy birds, plummeting slowly to the ground, taking his hopes with them. "You can't possibly... You are beneath me."
William knelt slowly, not in worship of the Lady Cecily, but like a penitent, carefully picking up the rejected pages. He'd known they were unworthy of her, but to have had them flung back so cruelly... It stung, burning inside of him as he'd always imagined a swallowed coal would burn.
Perhaps Cecily was not quite so perfect as he'd thought?
Finally, he'd retrieved all of his pages of words. Clutching them in his hands so hard that they went numb, he slipped out of the garden. This was too terrible, he could not remain at the party after such... rejection. There was a tiny gate, opening to a thin road, barely more than an alley. Dully, almost clumsily, William began to walk down it.
Barely, he registered the carriage that drove past him, a large dark mass pulled by dark horses. William didn't realize that he later walked by the same dark carriage, now waiting for its occupants to return.
"Hello, pretty. Why do you weep? The stars are singing, and there shall be long waltzes of time still to go..." The words came from a lovely woman with dark hair and eyes, her skin as pale as the finest porcelain.
Looking at her, William found the words falling away from him, and images of this woman filled his mind. Images of dark hair and sweeping skirts, waltzing on a plane of stars. "Ohh..."
Her cool hand found his, and she tugged lightly at him. "Come with us, come away and be my love..."
Smiling just a little, William followed her, climbing into the carriage. Another man, his dark hair and eyes like enough to the lovely maiden's to be her brother, sat inside, with a delicate golden haired lady beside him. The blonde woman had this faintly amused smile, while the gentleman looked almost annoyed. "Welcome to the family, boy."
William had no idea just how much everything was about to change for him. Now and forever.
end Words For Eternity
rating: pg/pg13
main character(s): William, Dru
disclaimer: I hold no legal rights to any characters that you recognize.
distribution: RedsSoulMates, TNL, Paula - anyone else ask please.
note: for Jinni's Poetry Quote Challenge #1.
"Because I could not stop for Death,
He kindly stopped for me;
The carriage held but just ourselves
And Immortality. "
-- Emily Dickinson - Because I could not stop for Death
* * * * * * *
He'd been frantically trying to capture Cecily's beauty in words, trying to describe her grace, her fair skin, her bright eyes that gleamed like smooth jewels, her hair that fell like a glowing cloud about her shoulders... To put her wondrousness to the page, preserving that image for eternity. He'd failed dismally. Repeatedly failed. Pages of words that fell short of her brilliance, her effulgent charm...
There were only a bare handful that he might be willing to let her see. Only a few worthy of those lustrous eyes. Perhaps these words, humble and inept as they might be, could win a smile from her? A kind word?
Cecily was wonderful, a gift of God to this wretched and dismal world, and he could but dream for a moment... well, he'd dreamed of more than a moment with her. But that wasn't very realistic. Maybe these words would win that moment? A single moment, out of all the moments of forever, of her attention.
And he stood there, heart clenching inside of him, barely daring to breath as she looked at the pages, her skin like warm ivory as she handles the pages of his words. Those incomparable eyes scanned his words, her lips moved slightly as she read them. Hope was almost painful inside him.
"These are dreadful. They couldn't..." She looked at him, her eyes widening slightly, and she pulled in a breath, almost visibly pulling away from him without moving. "You wrote these... about me?"
"yes." It was a bare whisper, chocked out by an unnamable dread. William looked at Cecily, certain that she wasn't finished speaking.
The pages were flung at him, falling into the air, twisting and turning like clumsy birds, plummeting slowly to the ground, taking his hopes with them. "You can't possibly... You are beneath me."
William knelt slowly, not in worship of the Lady Cecily, but like a penitent, carefully picking up the rejected pages. He'd known they were unworthy of her, but to have had them flung back so cruelly... It stung, burning inside of him as he'd always imagined a swallowed coal would burn.
Perhaps Cecily was not quite so perfect as he'd thought?
Finally, he'd retrieved all of his pages of words. Clutching them in his hands so hard that they went numb, he slipped out of the garden. This was too terrible, he could not remain at the party after such... rejection. There was a tiny gate, opening to a thin road, barely more than an alley. Dully, almost clumsily, William began to walk down it.
Barely, he registered the carriage that drove past him, a large dark mass pulled by dark horses. William didn't realize that he later walked by the same dark carriage, now waiting for its occupants to return.
"Hello, pretty. Why do you weep? The stars are singing, and there shall be long waltzes of time still to go..." The words came from a lovely woman with dark hair and eyes, her skin as pale as the finest porcelain.
Looking at her, William found the words falling away from him, and images of this woman filled his mind. Images of dark hair and sweeping skirts, waltzing on a plane of stars. "Ohh..."
Her cool hand found his, and she tugged lightly at him. "Come with us, come away and be my love..."
Smiling just a little, William followed her, climbing into the carriage. Another man, his dark hair and eyes like enough to the lovely maiden's to be her brother, sat inside, with a delicate golden haired lady beside him. The blonde woman had this faintly amused smile, while the gentleman looked almost annoyed. "Welcome to the family, boy."
William had no idea just how much everything was about to change for him. Now and forever.
end Words For Eternity