devohoneybee: (resolute)
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for my gracious and generous bidder, Dorothy1901, who requested something with Duncan and Connor (now with bonus Darius flashback *g*) With beta assist from Gryphonrhi, gracias!


Poem: A Different Wine/Family


A Different Wine (Connor)

They laugh at the joke:
same wine, different vintage.
Later, a remembered drink, shared
with an ancient priest. Darius
points out the two trees.

"The old story goes," he says,
"Eve, soon followed by her man,
ate the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge.
We all know that "knowledge" means sex:
they saw that they were naked.
What if that also meant
the ability to breed?

"We, on the other hand,
what if our tree was the other one?
Not the Tree of Knowledge,
but the Tree of Life.
The angels kept the humans from it.
They didn't want reproducing gods.
We, on the other hand,
were driven off with a different sword..."

It's they, all of them, who are a different wine.
Connor looks to Duncan once again,
and wonders what each of them,
given the choice, would choose.


Family (Duncan)

Duncan always cherishes time spent with his "cousin."
There's so little of family in their lives.
In battle's distant but inexorable song,
a mockery of the urge to shelter and protect.
When immortals fight, someone dies,
and another goes on, spent with the fury
of a passion too extreme for mortal life.
Knowledge, yes, and power. What could be more
intimate than the moment he absorbs his enemy?
Yet where, in all that, is love?
Duncan laughs, with Connor,
and pretends.
There are 3 comments on this entry. (Reply.)
dragonfly: (HL silhouettes)
posted by [personal profile] dragonfly at 03:46am on 07/09/2010
This is fabulous! Of course I loved the contrast of the trees, but really, the best part is where you put your finger right on the immortals' dilemma. Strength should be used to shelter and protect, and where in all this is love?

Absolutely perfect.
dorothy1901: Duncan MacLeod (Duncan MacLeod)
posted by [personal profile] dorothy1901 at 02:42pm on 11/09/2010
This is just wonderful. I completely agree with what [personal profile] dragonfly said, about how you zoomed in on the Immortals' dilemma. I also love the interlocking images in the first part: the Tree of Life versus the Tree of Knowledge, and the angel's sword, and how it meshes with the way that Immortals live forever but don't know where they come from, and how their lives are ruled by the sword. And then to segue from that to the knowledge they do have, when they take another Immortal's quickening, and how different it is from the knowledge of another that one gets from love. It's awesome. Thank you!
devohoneybee: poster by Cliff McReynolds (ocean tree)
posted by [personal profile] devohoneybee at 03:49pm on 11/09/2010
ahhh, I'm so glad you like it, and yes, all of that. :) I really, really enjoyed doing this challenge -- the prompts you gave me were not something I had thought of before (to write about those 2), and of course in canon they only have one episode together, so I went to that vine/vintage line, but I was really pleased with what showed up after that. I remember reading in college (religion major, reading something in anthropology) about how many cultures in the world have stories about a choice between immortality through personal long life versus through children, and how well the world of immortals represents the poignancy of that for those like Duncan, who loves those he loves so deeply.

Anyway, glad you like it, and thanks for the opportunity to participate in a mitzvah. Shana Tova.
Edited Date: 2010-09-11 03:52 pm (UTC)

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