Love Letter (To the One Who Would Strike Me Down)

[gyen_gaoltosing]

For jun-i! :D
I adore her below art piece, entitled Prelude, and I've been wanting to write something inspired by it for a long time now.

Prelude by jun-i


Love Letter
(To the One Who Would Strike Me Down)

Tonight, my lover,
tomorrow, my foe.
Both, and yet neither.
These have been strange times spent with you,
so full of contradictions.
Crossing swords with you
in battle,
Crossing swords with you
beside the bed.
In darkness, you revealed to meyour exquisite suede softness,
wrapping long and heavy about my limbs.
And all the while,
even as my hand hugged the curve of your hip,
I was ever conscious
of the curve of your blades
so near
your steel
your resolve
so sharpas to slice straight through bone.

That last night, before the battle at the citadel,
I lay beside you and contemplated a life together,
one of wander and abandon and bliss.
Maybe marriage?
I knew to say anything of the sort
would earn the spittle from your laughter in my face,
and I would deserve it.
(I chuckle at the thought myself.)

I've known from the start
exactly what I was getting myself into.
only I will be the one
to cut you down
I've been a warrior,
fought as a soldier,
long enough to know:Death comes for us all.

I choose to spend this time with you wisely.

I surrender to you
the secrets of my body
as all the world sleeps around us,
and I sacrifice to you
my solitary spirit
at that wishing well in my heart.

With the light of morning,
you'll get from me
no inkling of submission.
With the flight of my sword,
I'll make for you
not a single exception.

Tonight, my lover,
tomorrow, my foe.
You are both.
Both.

Strange times spent with you,
strange times such as these.

Just as I was becomingthe man I was meant to be,
my love, my lover
Surely, you'll be the death of me.

The honor is all mine.