Characters ♡ The OTP & Pairing Thread ♡ | Challenge #33 is up: How They Met! (1/28, p. 90, #2231)

I'll take 5, please!

 

@ViariSkywalker here’s no. 5:

Spoiler: Nikki Giovanni, “And I Have You”

Rain has drops
Sun has shine
Moon has beams
That make you mine
Rivers have banks
Sands for shores
Hearts have heartbeats
That make me yours
Needles have eyes
Though pins may prick
Elmer has glue
To make things stick
Winter has Spring
Stockings feet
Pepper has mint
To make it sweet
Teachers have lessons
Soup du jour
Lawyers sue bad folks
Doctors cure
All and all
This much is true
You have me
And I have you.

 

Here goes.

I will take #6.

 

My immediate reaction is "no, absolutely not, I have enough to write already," but let's be honest, I've been saying that since the Kessel Run, yet I keep signing up for things and somehow managing to write more stories, so why not keep the streak going Could I have number 1, please?

 

@Gabri_Jade certainly! Here is no. 1:

Spoiler: Edna St. Vincent Millay, “Modern Declaration”

I, having loved ever since I was a child a few things, never having wavered
In these affections; never through shyness in the houses of the rich or in the presence of clergymen having denied these loves;
Never when worked upon by cynics like chiropractors having grunted or clicked a vertebra to the discredit of these loves;
Never when anxious to land a job having diminished them by a conniving smile; or when befuddled by drink
Jeered at them through heartache or lazily fondled the fingers of their alert enemies; declare

That I shall love you always.
No matter what party is in power;
No matter what temporarily expedient combination of allied interests wins the war;
Shall love you always.

Now we have just nos. 2, 8, 9, and 10 left. Though if there’s demand, I can gladly find some more!

 

Oh, these look fantastic! I can't wait to see what gets written. Can I have #9?

 

@Kahara of course! Here is no. 9:

Spoiler: Amy Lowell, “Venus Transiens”

Tell me,
Was Venus more beautiful
Than you are,
When she topped
The crinkled waves,
Drifting shoreward
On her plaited shell?
Was Botticelli’s vision
Fairer than mine;
And were the painted rosebuds
He tossed his lady
Of better worth
Than the words I blow about you
To cover your too great loveliness
As with a gauze
Of misted silver?

For me,
You stand poised
In the blue and buoyant air,
Cinctured by bright winds,
Treading the sunlight.
And the waves which precede you
Ripple and stir
The sands at my feet.

And now we’re down to 2, 8, and 10!

 

Well, dang, that's a perfect Mara poem. This might work

In addition to the mod challenge. And the two long WIPs. And then Vi's going to throw another KR at us all, helllp meeeee

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Congratulations to the winners of the previous challenge and a big round of applause for all the participants!


And because the new challenge looks amazing, and my sense of self-control and good judgment is as nonexistent as my muse, could I please have #10? If you would like to keep it open to give someone else who might actually write something a chance, though, I’d totally understand!

 

@amidalachick certainly! I don’t mind handing poems out to any all takers, because I have a few in reserve in case I run out. Here’s no. 10:

Spoiler: Christina Rossetti, “I loved you first: but afterwards your love”

I loved you first: but afterwards your love
Outsoaring mine, sang such a loftier song
As drowned the friendly cooings of my dove.
Which owes the other most? my love was long,
And yours one moment seemed to wax more strong;
I loved and guessed at you, you construed me
And loved me for what might or might not be—
Nay, weights and measures do us both a wrong.
For verily love knows not ‘mine’ or ‘thine;’
With separate ‘I’ and ‘thou’ free love has done,
For one is both and both are one in love:
Rich love knows nought of ‘thine that is not mine;’
Both have the strength and both the length thereof,
Both of us, of the love which makes us one.

Just nos. 2 and 8 are left now! And I can add more if people would like.

 

8 please

 

You got it! Here is no. 8:

Spoiler: Elizabeth Barrett Browning, "If thou must love me, let it be for nought"

If thou must love me, let it be for nought
Except for love’s sake only. Do not say
‘I love her for her smile... her look... her way
Of speaking gently, ... for a trick of thought
That falls in well with mine, and certes brought
A sense of pleasant ease on such a day’—
For these things in themselves, Belovèd, may
Be changed, or change for thee,—and love, so wrought,
May be unwrought so. Neither love me for
Thine own dear pity’s wiping my cheeks dry,—
A creature might forget to weep, who bore
Thy comfort long, and lose thy love thereby!
But love me for love's sake, that evermore
Thou may’st love on, through love's eternity.

Ah, sorry, @earlybird-obi-wan just requested that one above! #2 is left, though if you'd like that one, however.

And! It looks like we could use some more, so I have just added five more poems to the list, numbered 11 through 15. So let me know if you'd like #2 or one of those.

 

First, congratulations to the winners! And wow, those WENT FAST! Can I hvae #2 in the Love Poems roulette?

earlybird-obi-wan got one of my most favorite love poems.

 

Excellent! Here you go:

Spoiler: Gwendolyn Brooks, "To Be in Love"

To be in love
Is to touch with a lighter hand.

In yourself you stretch, you are well.

You look at things
Through his eyes.
A cardinal is red.
A sky is blue.
Suddenly you know he knows too.
He is not there but
You know you are tasting together
The winter, or a light spring weather.

His hand to take your hand is overmuch.
Too much to bear.

You cannot look in his eyes
Because your pulse must not say
What must not be said.

When he
Shuts a door—
Is not there—
Your arms are water.

And you are free
With a ghastly freedom.

You are the beautiful half
Of a golden hurt.

You remember and covet his mouth
To touch, to whisper on.

Oh when to declare
Is certain Death!

Oh when to apprize
Is to mesmerize,

To see fall down, the Column of Gold,
Into the commonest ash.

Oh, d'oh, sorry! Mira juuuust claimed #2, above—but I just added five more, numbered 11–15, so you are welcome to any one of those.

 

@Findswoman, would you like one of us to pick a number for you, so that you can join in the fun, too?

 

#15 it is, then!

 

@Captain Rakkaus
Can I have #14?

 

Of course, Nyota! I won't lie—as soon as you mentioned that you were a Barrett Browning fan, this is the one I was secretly hoping you'd end up with, because it is the one and only, the absolute classic...

Spoiler: Elizabeth Barrett Browning, “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways”

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace.
I love thee to the level of every day’s
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

OK, we've got nos. 11, 12, and 13 left now—anyone?