Summary: He's just trying to count down to New Year's and make a toast, but it's proving difficult with the rain and his memories.
Categories: Poetry Characters: None
Warnings: None
Challenges: Series: None
Chapters: 1
Completed: Yes
Word count: 241
Read: 1735
Published: 01/06/08
Updated: 01/07/08
1. Gently and loudly, down by Stubbornly_appeared
Gently and loudly, down by Stubbornly_appeared
Author's Notes:
This certainly is a deviation from my usual style. 'Gently and softly, down' began as a challenge in Poetry, Anyone? on the forums but then broke some of the rules. I modified it to fit the challenge there, but here's the original, and my favourite.
(20) A voice not heard, calling gently and loudly. Gently and loudly, falling down, down,
(19) down like the raindrops on the roof. A glass is raised to no one, particularly
(18) not one one-time friend. ‘A toast,’ he says, his voice ragged from lack of use:
(17) No use, he thinks, no one to hear you. The glass settles on the table now.
(16) More raindrops hit the pane, smacking gently and loudly, gently and down,
(15) down, down like teardrops off his nose into stale, old champagne.
(14) ‘A toast,’ he repeats, this time with both less and more fervour;
(13) the glass hangs in the air too long and stays there too long
(12) so it stays there for long, not coming gently and loudly
(11) down, down, down on the age-weathered tabletop.
(10) Not to say he didn't have anything
(9) to say; on the contrary there was
(8) quite a bit. Gently and loudly,
(7) he takes a breath and drinks: down,
(6) down, down goes the champagne.
(5) It races through his
(4) throat like day dreams.
(3) His voice comes,
(2) down, down,
(1) ‘Pete.’
Author's Notes: So, did you catch that? Remus alone, before he takes the teaching position in PoA (this is probably sometime in the eighties), counting down to New Year's with a toast to an old friend who died a hero: Pete, Wormtail, Peter Pettigrew. Eh?
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