Poem: A Yesterday (Harry/Ginny, G)

[ginger_veela]

I suck, because I still haven't finished my hg_silverlining  songfic On A Night Like This, but I went ahead and signed up for the hpgw_otp  Passage of Time Challenge.  Don't ask me why I do this to myself.  I have no idea.

Anyway, here's my submission, inspired (sort of) by Dan Radcliffe's pseudo-anonymously published poems recently come to light.  I totally bent the rules -- for one thing, it's supposed to be either a piece of art or 500-2000 words of fiction, and this is neither.  I'm not even really sure what this is.  Eh, whatever.

 

A Yesterday

 

If I could live a yesterday

It wouldn’t be the day we met, the day

It all began, my world, my brand-new life

Ginger plaits and bright brown eyes

That saw instantly what took me years

To see – that you belonged with me

And I with you – fast footfalls fading

From view, laughing, crying, running

Toward the train, the boy who sped away

 

If I could live a yesterday

It wouldn’t be the day we kissed, the day

I overcame my fears, and took the chance

I’d missed for weeks and months and years

Through timing, luck and circumstance,

Mad monster in my chest.  You ran to me,

Your lips met mine, a sweet and fierce elation

For minutes, hours, several sunlit days

And then – applause, a twofold celebration

 

If I could live a yesterday

It wouldn’t be the day I left, the day

I walked away from you, each pace

A knife inside my gut, a twisting pain

My one best source of comfort, safe

The only thought that gave me strength

To meet my fate – the bitter cold, long nights

That followed, battles won, and then

You found your way to me, and I to you again

 

If I could live a yesterday

It wouldn’t be the day we wed, the day

I took your hands in mine, our bodies

Fasted magically together, bound for life

Your lucky husband, you, my lovely wife

The start of all that ever mattered, the notion

Of my one true calling shattered – not to

Save the world, but spend my life with you

A finer purpose no man ever knew

 

If I could live a yesterday

It wouldn’t be the day our first was born, the day

Our lives turned topsy-turvy for the better

Through years of sleepless nights and days

Of nappies, skinned knees, kisses, hugs and laughter

Our life completed, two sons and a daughter

A dream come true I never could surmise

Defying war and death and lightning scar

A family of my own, the sweetest prize

 

No – if I could live a yesterday

It would be the day passed one day now

I smoothed the white hair from your wrinkled brow,

Your warm brown eyes gone blind. We talked

About the full, rich life we’ve lived, the love we’ve shared,

The joy our children and grandchildren bring,

How we wouldn’t change a single thing.

I kissed your face, your beauty unsurpassed,

And held your hand until you breathed your last.



 

Comments

[ginger-veela.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much! G-rated *anything* isn't usually my thing, either. Glad it worked for you.