Forgetting A Second Pern Poem Poem by Gabrielle Ciarann Roniyah Baer

I wish I could stop
The memories flooding my senses
When the wings rise without me, now.

Jewel bright eyes, glistening hide,
Tender mind-friend,
Joyful bond

All as clear to me now
As the moment
Before my life-friend died.
Drumming wings
Raking claws
Ferocious grin,
Hammering cry
All steal upon me afresh
When the alarm is called and I cannot go.

Crippled, cast off,
Cast away, Useless
I waste here
Since my cherished mind-mate died
Screams still echo in my head,
Half empty now, as a scorched-out weyr
Mine? His?
Who could see closely enough to tell?

Thread falls again,
Others rise to the fight,
I lie here
Hopeless, dry-eyed
Wondering
Why haven’t I died here?
I feel our pain
Our loss, our separation,
Our living wasted turns to come.

Memory is a trickster
Alone on my cot It lies to me:
Back it brings the first times
So strongly I almost can feel
That first touch of dragon’s mind on mine!
My friend! I go between to new Wonders!
Hero Times await us, Come!

Helpless,
Alone in our weyr,
I watch myself climb to his back again,
Overcome with reunion,
Flooded with after-light,
Now, let others
Do the forgetting!


written October,1989