Green-Eyed Friend
Apr. 29th, 2010 10:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wyld_dandelyonI'm told that April is National Poetry Month, and I've been meaning to post some poetry. Well, April is almost over, so here's a story poem for
Green-Eyed Friend
He looks like a normal kind of guy, he’s got a solid, dull career
His eyes were a safe warm brown, we’d been friends many a year,
He walked up to me with a troubled look, “hey, friend, you got a while?
There’s something I’ve got to tell you.” Then he gives me this odd smile.
“My mom said to keep the secret, or I’d lose more than I could win
I’ve been silent so long, it’s hard to know where I should begin—“
Then he popped the contacts from his eyes, showed me the bright green hue
“I’m an elf, well, half-elf” he said, his eyes proof that he spoke true
I refused to scream, although I’m sure the fear showed in my eyes
All know that you can’t trust an elf—why’d he show me his disguise?
But he didn’t offer any threat, just stood there awkwardly,
The same old nerdy space geek—so I just said, “So, why tell me?”
“I could say I’m sick of wondering who’d be friends if they knew
I could say I’m tired of lying, and God knows that that is true
But the truth is I’ve been too scared of what I’d lose to stand so tall
And if I hadn’t got this letter, I’d have said nothing at all.”
“But, my sister, she got married, and some while back had twins
The elfin blood shone through in them; they suffered taunts and sins
Now, the boy’s committed suicide; the girl is at death’s door
I wish I’d helped them sooner, but I can’t live silent anymore.”
He’d showed me pictures of those kids, bragged of talents they had shown
He loved them so, I’d wondered why he had none of his own
It was fear, I guess; looking in his eyes, a truth occurred to me
Elves have a lot to fear from us, that they all hide or flee.
I must have looked uneasy, for he looked down with a sigh
“If you feel we cannot still be friends, I sure understand why.”
I reached to stop him—touched an elf! But the world didn’t end.
I said, “I’m feeling kind of shocked, but I’ll not reject a friend.”
I remembered all the times we’d shared, how he’d helped when I was down
How he’d come to get me in the night when my car broke far from town
And I imagined that bright, pretty boy now laid out underground,
And I said, “this world’s a better place, with folks like you around.”
Copyright ©2007 (November 7, 2007) Deirdre M. Murphy, all rights reserved.
Remember, comments are candy!
_______________________
Green-Eyed Friend
He looks like a normal kind of guy, he’s got a solid, dull career
His eyes were a safe warm brown, we’d been friends many a year,
He walked up to me with a troubled look, “hey, friend, you got a while?
There’s something I’ve got to tell you.” Then he gives me this odd smile.
“My mom said to keep the secret, or I’d lose more than I could win
I’ve been silent so long, it’s hard to know where I should begin—“
Then he popped the contacts from his eyes, showed me the bright green hue
“I’m an elf, well, half-elf” he said, his eyes proof that he spoke true
I refused to scream, although I’m sure the fear showed in my eyes
All know that you can’t trust an elf—why’d he show me his disguise?
But he didn’t offer any threat, just stood there awkwardly,
The same old nerdy space geek—so I just said, “So, why tell me?”
“I could say I’m sick of wondering who’d be friends if they knew
I could say I’m tired of lying, and God knows that that is true
But the truth is I’ve been too scared of what I’d lose to stand so tall
And if I hadn’t got this letter, I’d have said nothing at all.”
“But, my sister, she got married, and some while back had twins
The elfin blood shone through in them; they suffered taunts and sins
Now, the boy’s committed suicide; the girl is at death’s door
I wish I’d helped them sooner, but I can’t live silent anymore.”
He’d showed me pictures of those kids, bragged of talents they had shown
He loved them so, I’d wondered why he had none of his own
It was fear, I guess; looking in his eyes, a truth occurred to me
Elves have a lot to fear from us, that they all hide or flee.
I must have looked uneasy, for he looked down with a sigh
“If you feel we cannot still be friends, I sure understand why.”
I reached to stop him—touched an elf! But the world didn’t end.
I said, “I’m feeling kind of shocked, but I’ll not reject a friend.”
I remembered all the times we’d shared, how he’d helped when I was down
How he’d come to get me in the night when my car broke far from town
And I imagined that bright, pretty boy now laid out underground,
And I said, “this world’s a better place, with folks like you around.”
Copyright ©2007 (November 7, 2007) Deirdre M. Murphy, all rights reserved.
Remember, comments are candy!
_______________________
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2010-04-30 07:55 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-05-01 04:59 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-04-30 09:40 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-05-01 03:53 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-04-30 12:01 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-05-01 03:59 am (UTC)Love it
Date: 2010-04-30 05:20 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-04-30 07:15 pm (UTC)There is a near universal trope in modern fantasy these days that the magical creatures (whether they be vampires, werewolves, elves, or whatever) are in hiding, desperately afraid of what would happen if they were found. When I take the time to think about it, it depresses me. I want to see the normal humans learn about the others and accept and welcome them; their magic is what's missing in our world and we need them. Yet I fear that they are right to hide; if the Fox News viewers actually believed they existed, they'd wipe them out.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-05-01 04:03 am (UTC)I think the trope is because many of us, not nearly as weird as the fantasy critters, are afraid of the Fox News viewers already. And yes, it is depressing!
I agree with you that we need the weird and wonderful and magical in our lives.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-04-30 10:43 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-05-01 03:52 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-05-01 05:31 pm (UTC)Sam
(http://future-nostalgic.blogspot.com/)
(no subject)
Date: 2010-05-02 03:13 pm (UTC)Thanks so much for sharing.
~2mara
Loved it!
Date: 2010-05-03 01:37 pm (UTC)---ganymeder
story
Date: 2010-05-03 01:43 pm (UTC)Green-Eyed Friend
Date: 2010-05-03 02:42 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-08 06:13 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-10 02:34 am (UTC)