The Wishing Tree
Title: 'The Wishing Tree'
Rating: G
Pairing: J/C hint
Disclaimer: Star Trek characters not mine, 'The Wishing Tree' poem not mine (Bows down to Seamus Heaney). Only thing mine is the plot.
Author's Notes: No flames please. Comment and tell me what you think. Thanks (and dedication) to trunks_angel who beta-d this.
~~~<3~~~
There was a comfortable, sorrow filled silence. Everyone sat in front of a chestnut coffin, its satin lined innards on show to everyone. A tall man with soft brown eyes and a shock of short white hair stood by it. His eyes were rimmed with dull red circles, and glazed with unshedable tears. He fiddled with his gold wedding ring.
"I know that if Kathryn was here with me now, she'd hold my hand tightly and tell me that I can do it. She'd tell me to be strong, stand tall and speak from the heart.
"Kathryn and I weren't always friends. We had our own ideas about our crew, about life, and her profuse intake of coffee." Chakotay smiled a sad smile. "But we became friends, and I thank the Spirits, God and everything else that I had her friendship, that we all did.
"I also had her love and strength. We all did. She gave us her guidance, her respect and her trust. She got us home, and I can't remember a time I didn't say thanks for that miracle." Chakotay looked around the room until his eyes landed on *their* children, grown up and shedding silent tears.
"I still feel her strength of spirit and I know she hasn't left us. She's still watching us as I speak and embracing our spirits with hers.
"She told me once about a tree she'd sit on to think. We went there when her mother died, when our daughters left for university, and I went there when she died. She was there though. I'd liked to read a poem she liked, called 'The Wishing Tree'.
"I thought of her as the wishing tree that died
And saw it lifted, root and branch, to heaven,
Trailing a shower of all that had been driven
Need by need by need into its hale
Sap-wood and bark: coin and pin and nail
Came streaming from it like a comet-tail
New minted and dissolved. I had a vision
Of an airy branch-head rising through damp cloud,
Of turned-up faces where the tree had stood."
Chakotay drew in a breath, trying to contain the tears for a few more minutes. "She was my wishing tree, as she was to all of us, and I know one day I'll be by her side again." He gazed heaven bound. "I love you Kathryn."
Rating: G
Pairing: J/C hint
Disclaimer: Star Trek characters not mine, 'The Wishing Tree' poem not mine (Bows down to Seamus Heaney). Only thing mine is the plot.
Author's Notes: No flames please. Comment and tell me what you think. Thanks (and dedication) to trunks_angel who beta-d this.
~~~<3~~~
There was a comfortable, sorrow filled silence. Everyone sat in front of a chestnut coffin, its satin lined innards on show to everyone. A tall man with soft brown eyes and a shock of short white hair stood by it. His eyes were rimmed with dull red circles, and glazed with unshedable tears. He fiddled with his gold wedding ring.
"I know that if Kathryn was here with me now, she'd hold my hand tightly and tell me that I can do it. She'd tell me to be strong, stand tall and speak from the heart.
"Kathryn and I weren't always friends. We had our own ideas about our crew, about life, and her profuse intake of coffee." Chakotay smiled a sad smile. "But we became friends, and I thank the Spirits, God and everything else that I had her friendship, that we all did.
"I also had her love and strength. We all did. She gave us her guidance, her respect and her trust. She got us home, and I can't remember a time I didn't say thanks for that miracle." Chakotay looked around the room until his eyes landed on *their* children, grown up and shedding silent tears.
"I still feel her strength of spirit and I know she hasn't left us. She's still watching us as I speak and embracing our spirits with hers.
"She told me once about a tree she'd sit on to think. We went there when her mother died, when our daughters left for university, and I went there when she died. She was there though. I'd liked to read a poem she liked, called 'The Wishing Tree'.
"I thought of her as the wishing tree that died
And saw it lifted, root and branch, to heaven,
Trailing a shower of all that had been driven
Need by need by need into its hale
Sap-wood and bark: coin and pin and nail
Came streaming from it like a comet-tail
New minted and dissolved. I had a vision
Of an airy branch-head rising through damp cloud,
Of turned-up faces where the tree had stood."
Chakotay drew in a breath, trying to contain the tears for a few more minutes. "She was my wishing tree, as she was to all of us, and I know one day I'll be by her side again." He gazed heaven bound. "I love you Kathryn."