Rating: PG
Pairings: Elrond/Gil-galad.
Summary: A poem from Gil-galad's perspective on kingship - and Elrond.
No wind inside the castle but echoes walk the walls
State paper forms a prison
The crown manacles the mind
A thousand voices tell me what I must and must not do
A king I am the ruler;
By my own laws the ruled;
I'm left lost the door wide open
By your single question:
"why?"
A king must not show anger
he must not show his pride
he must not shout
must not despair
must not
must not
must...
Must not seek your voice
must not will your call
must not cry for help – unneeded –
yet freely given, freely taken,
acknowledgement contraband;
secret stolen minutes
torniquet purple blood
cut out from eternal circles
fastened to the heart.
A king's duty is to his people
His duty is to his line
His duty is to marry
He must
He must
He must...
"Don't tell me that you must
Don't tell me that you should
Tell me you can change the way you feel."
Each argument that I construct,
each reason that I find erased
by the clarity of your sight.
My duty is to my people,
to my throne and to my line,
My duty is to marry and
In all this to live, or deny
My nature and my heart.
I will hold the lands and tenures, arrange barter for the crafts,
Watch the weddings, know the worth
of every one within
This kingdom that I rule, I guide, I lead to war,
I will do each and every duty:
Ally and trade and dance and court,
Yet the one more thing that I must do
The king
I
cannot.
I hear you when I cannot sleep
when I pace the chambers of my mind
I hear you when I cannot scream
when each word I speak is a lie
I see you when I close my eyes
set the waking world at bay
I hear you when you must not speak
when you respond to all the things I cannot say
I feel you when you must not touch
when you are standing by my side
I know you understand me
Not the king beneath the diadem
You create with every absence
Our world that lies unseen
A flaw within white crystal
Set in a jewelled crown.
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