Were-Wolf
By Julian Hawthorne
Runs the wind along the waste,
Run the clouds across the moon,
Ghastly shadows run in haste
From snowy dune to dune—
Blue shadows o'er the ghastly white
Spectral gleaming in the night.
But ghastlier, more spectral still,
What fearful thing speeds hither,
Running, running, running
Swifter than cloud or wind?
What omen of nameless ill,
Whence coming, speeding whither,
Running, running, running,
Leaves all save fear behind?
Leaning, leaning in the race,
Breath keen-drawn through nostrils tense,
Fell eyes in ruthless face,
What goblin of malevolence
Runs through the frozen night
In superhuman flight?
See it run, run, run,
Outstripping the shadows that fly!
Hear the fiend’s heart beat, beat,
Beat, beat, beat in its breast!
Running, running, running on
Under the frozen sky,
Fleet, so fearfully fleet,
Pausing never to rest.
Clutched -- what is clutched so tight
In its lean, cold hands as it speeds?
Something soft, something white,
Something human, that bleeds?
Is it an infant's curly head,
And innocent limbs, gnawed and red?
Fleeter and yet more fleet
It leans, leans and runs;
Dabbled with blood are its awful lips,
Grinning in horrible glee.
The wolves that follow with scurrying feet,
Sniffing that goblin scent, at once
Scatter in terror, while it slips
Away, to the shore of the frozen sea.
Away! is it man? is it woman,
On such dread meat to feed?
Away! is it beast? is it human?
Or is it a fiend indeed?
Fiend from human loins begotten,
Hell-inspired, God-forgotten!
Now the midnight hour draws on:
Human form no fiend may keep
Or ever that mystic hour is told.
Lower, lower, lower it bends.
Midnight is come—is come and gone!
Down on all fours see it plunge and leap!
A human yell in a wolf’s howl ends!...
What gaunt, gray thing gallops on o'er the world?
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Just guess what I was looking up (and in reference to whom, and which fandom) when I found that poem. And it's a full moon tonight and everything -- the Frost Moon I'm told. Enterprise review: "Awakening", perhaps not quite as good as "The Forge" in execution but still a highly engrossing storyline. I am really enjoying the show this season, despite numerous original Trek cliches that are not all to the good. Also,
GIP for the season, though really Christmas hardly affects me at all since my in-laws will be on the west coast. Today we had lunch with the entire family at my parents' house so the kids could play before my sons went off to a going-away party for the friend who is moving back to Venezuela in a week -- there will be much unhappiness here when that happens, though I think it will be much worse for the little boy, who has been here for nearly four years.
1. What type of shopper are you? The "oh god I hate this are we done yet" kind. The internet is by far my favorite way to shop, followed closely by phone calls to catalogue companies so long as they don't put me in voicemail hell. I love browsing in bookstores with chairs and coffee bars, but clothing, shoes, drugstore stuff, household items, etc. I want to get and get out ASAP.
2. Have you ever gone out of your way to get a deal? Nearly always.
3. Do you do your holiday shopping early, or do you procrastinate? For the people whom I know what to get, I shop early. For the people I'm not sure about, I procrastinate endlessly.
4. What's the best gift you've ever received? I'm not sure but it was something homemade. A dried flower arrangement my son made me, a card my husband made for me, a defuncto my friend sculpted for me, a fan novel dedicated to me...these are the gifts that really matter, not the ones that cost very much. (Incidentally I didn't do that wish list meme because the only things I'd ask are fic and art...you know my favorite fandoms, you know my favorite pairings, and if you are ever inspired to create anything with my name on it, I will be absolutely thrilled but it doesn't have to be for holiday season when everyone is already stretched with their family and real life acquaintances.)
5. What's the best gift you've ever given? I can't think of anything truly worthy here. My sister gave bone marrow to a total stranger because they were a match...that is a really amazing gift. I've written things for people and helped design things for people, and I've stuck my neck out for students of mine in a way that I knew really mattered to them, but nothing on that scale.
1. As a child, where did you go for Thanksgiving ad who was there? Either my parents' house or my Aunt Shirley and Uncle Paul's. My father's parents (my grandfather was my Uncle Paul's brother), my mother's mother, Shirley and Paul and their daughters were there. Over time as their children and me and my sister started having families, we all stopped fitting around one table, so now we have Chanukah parties instead.
2. What food(s) do you remember best/were tradition then? For years my mother has made a carrot souffle to die for. My Aunt Shirley made wonderful pecan pie, too.
3. Where do you celebrate now, and with whom? At my parents' house with my sister, her husband and their three daughters.
4. Has your menu changed (if so, whats new?)? We have more sweet potatoes now and less onion in the stuffing because Shirley always liked more than we did, but it's pretty much the same.
5. What are you thankful for this year? See here.
1. Janeway and Chakotay holding hands in "Resolutions" after the Angry Warrior speech. This is not my favorite J/C scene -- the one that converted me was "She's the captain" in "Caretaker" with a close second to the breakfast conversation at the beginning of "Phage" -- but this is the one that generated the most fan fiction of anything in Voyager, and for that, I will always adore it.
2. Lupin's "people like me" speech from the end of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, making explicit the implied connection between lycanthropy and having a sexual orientation that some people won't accept. I liked it in the book but it brought tears to my eyes in the film.
3. Boromir's "my brother, my captain, my king" from the end of The Fellowship of the Ring. It's the scene that converted me to Boromir-love, and Lord of the Rings love, and Sean Bean love...and here I am as a direct result.
4. The Love Test scene from Space: 1999's "Brian the Brain" where Helena and John both pass by failing -- they give away the fact that they are in love by demonstrating that they are each willing to give their lives to save the other, and that saves them both.
5. "God, whose name I do not know, thank you for my life. I forgot how big..." From Joe vs. the Volcano, drifting on the ocean at moonrise, thinking these would be his last thoughts. How marvelous.
There are others I should list, like Kira and Odo at the end of "Chimera" and Spock whispering "Forget" in "Requiem for Methuselah" and the freeing of the animals in The Miracle, but I'll keep it to five like a good girl. *giggling*
If there is at least one person in your life who you consider a close friend, and who you would not have met without being part of an online fandom, post this sentence in your journal.
And cuz everyone else is:
| space 1999 is love | |||||
| brought to you by the isLove Generator | |||||
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