odes and other miscellany

[ekaterinn]

It's a beautiful Sunday morning, and I have coffee and yogurt and an internet connection. What could be better? *grins* I also come bearing a Highlander double drabble titled Easeful Death (Methos, gen):


Methos dies.

He dies of a blow to the head, falling in the dirt. He dies of starvation, his skin stretching until there is no more. He dies of a sword thrust through his abdomen by Kronos, in whatever game they’re playing that moon. Methos dies of alcohol poisoning in Rome; he dies of thirst in the desert. A little bit of Methos dies every time he takes a head, losing space to someone else’s Quickening. He dies in a battle when a horse falls on him. He dies on his farm, caught outside in a storm. Methos dies, slowly and painfully, as the Plague devours his Immortal immunity. All of his family has gone before him, and unlike Methos, they will not return. He dies by drowning in the Thames on purpose to escape an enemy, and when his heart restarts, he coughs up river water.

By the time Methos meets Byron, he is more than done with dying. He doctors, he writes, he avoids fights. He craves passion, but he craves life more. When he reads Keats’s poem confessing that "for many a time/I have been half in love with easeful Death", he laughs and laughs and laughs.

Comments

[juniperphoenix]

This is wonderful. I think you're right that Methos must have been quite cynically amused by some of the Romantics' preoccupations.

Thanks for sharing!

[ekaterinn.livejournal.com]

*smiles* Yes, very much so. Thank you so much!

[adabsolutely.livejournal.com]

Very nice. Yes, Death wants to live.

[holde-maid.livejournal.com]

*g* well put!

[ekaterinn.livejournal.com]

Oh, wonderfully put indeed! Thank you so much!

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

Very nice!

[ekaterinn.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[holde-maid.livejournal.com]

nice, very nice! :-)

[ekaterinn.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much! ^_^

[keerawa.livejournal.com]

Very nicely done.

I particularly like what you've done with your sentence structure here. You use just the right amount of similar structures to drive home the repetitive nature of death, and then switch it up to keep the reader guessing.

[ekaterinn.livejournal.com]

Thank you, especially for your comments on the sentence structure. ^_^

[eldritchhobbit.livejournal.com]

Beautifully done. Excellent point about the very different perspective Methos would bring to this poem.

[ekaterinn.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much - Methos's perspective is always going to be skewed by his long experience.

[eveningblue.livejournal.com]

Oooh, very nice! "He craves passion, but he craves life more" might explain the way he is attracted to passionate people yet stays just on their periphery.

[ekaterinn.livejournal.com]

Yes, very much so - I'm glad that came through! (Actually, now I wonder if Duncan's antagonism towards Byron might have had something to do with a recognition of those careless parts of himself. What exactly keeps Methos around, if only on the edges?) Thank you so much!

[mackiedockie.livejournal.com]

This is a fascinating portrayal of a Methos purged of the conceit of Immortality.

[ekaterinn.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[dossier.livejournal.com]

I think that Methos is one of the most interesting characters ever created; he's so fluid, and yet rather iconic. I just love little glimpses into his psyche, and this made me go 'Hmmm'. cool!

[ekaterinn.livejournal.com]

he's so fluid, and yet rather iconic

Oh, that's a good way to describe him! And thanks muchly - I'm glad you liked the drabble. Dying that many times (and coming back) must do *something* to your psyche.

[sparklebutch.livejournal.com]

This is just wonderful!

[ekaterinn.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much; I'm glad you liked!

[(Anonymous)]

wonderful! so very methos! sigh! too short! think you can drabble longer next time? :)

[ekaterinn.livejournal.com]

*beams* Thank you so much! And I may have longer fics in me yet. *g*

[belleimani.livejournal.com]

Oh I like this, you really capture his bitterness and slight detachment from it all.

[ekaterinn.livejournal.com]

*smiles* Oh, thank you! And yes, "slight detachment" was what I was going for.

[belleimani.livejournal.com]

You're welcome!