It's been a couple of years since I've done one, but it seems super fitting to do one today since a) I am reading the Harry Potter books to my eleven year old this summer (and she loves them...yay!) and b) I just finished JKR's newest novel, the detective novel she wrote under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. And I liked it very much. Review forthcoming on that some time.
So I'm actually in more of a Rowling/Harry mood than I've been in a long time, but alas, I am also exhausted after one of the hardest days I've had in a long time. My HP writings still occupy their own file, but it's been ages since I've culled through them. So I will cheerfully admit that you're getting one of the first things I happened to land on, a poem I wrote several years ago about Fred and George Weasley. It's based off a moment in Goblet of Fire, but presupposes that you know the whole seven book saga, including Fred's fate. So consider the spoiler alert issued.
Enjoy the poem. And happy birthday to Jo and Harry!
George Weasley Remembers
It’s hard to choose a favorite trick.
Pranking was our bailiwick.
We tried to do things with panache,
give fireworks some extra flash.
To laugh and make another smile
made all our efforts seem worthwhile.
So it’s hard to choose the best
and simply disregard the rest.
But now that I am quite alone
and laughter sometimes feels like stone
I think that there is just one joke
with the power to evoke
a smile but also deep regret.
When we tried to cross the line
and wound up aged for all to see,
I remember Fred’s gray hair and beard,
his lined face looking back at me.
We chortled and we shook with glee
to see ourselves so bent and old.
We loved the fact that we’d been had!
The pranksters pranked by joke so bold.
If only I had realized then
this funny glimpse was all I’d know
of old age with my brother Fred
I would have lingered longer so.
~EMP
1 comment:
Such a stirring poem. Fred was such a sucker-punch to the gut for me; so hard to imagine one without the other... Of all the many deaths in HP, I really think that hit me the hardest. Everything associated with them was light and fun, and even George's ear became silly, and then to have that come out of the blue... Just cruel. I wanted to throw the book. :-P She definitely made us care about her characters!
Post a Comment