Not a fic: An S/B-perfect Neruda poem

[lady_bug_kay]

I am completely in love with jen_in_japan's writing. I adore pretty much everything she does, and yay for me, she writes mostly Bruce/Clark. Or Superman/Batman. Same thing. *[see clarification below]* The first thing I ever read of hers was her Music of the Spheres series, which I fell in love with and which I still reread with much affection. If you haven't read it, you should really check it out. Bruce and Clark, from their most recent respective movies, meet and history is made. But because Clark is basically immortal, we know that ultimately, as it would be for Clark whoever he ends up with, things will end with Clark being alone. 

Anyway, I found this poem by Pablo Neruda (yes, the one beloved by fic writers the world over), and it is just perfect for Clark after...well, the thing we Bruce/Clark writers never want to think about happens. We know this isn't what Neruda had in mind, but the poem works so well, he might have been a prophet. Translated by Stephen Tapscott.
 
 

They're liars, those who say I lost the moon,
who foretold a future like a public desert for me,
who gossiped so much with their cold tongues:
they tried to ban the flower of the universe.

"The quick spontaneous mermaids' amber
is finished. Now he has only the people."
And they gnawed on their incessant papers,
they plotted an oblivion for my guitar.

But I tossed--ha! into their eyes!--the dazzling lances
of our love, piercing your heart and mine.
I gathered the jasmine your footsteps left behind.

I got lost in the night, without the light
of your eyelids, and when the night surrounded me
I was born again: I was the owner of my own darkness.

Tell me if you agree (or disagree) about how appropriate this poem is for Clark.

**Edited Note: Or not.  tmelangeasked me to clarify if I thought these two pairings were the same, and I had to admit I don't really think so. Not really. Because the dual identities/personalities of each are different, with distinct motivations and characterizations, and the relationships between S/B and B/C have different dynamics and different issues. But I lump the two pairings together like this because Bruce and Batman inhabit the same body, and so do Clark and Superman. And that means I read anything about S/B and anything about B/C. In case you care what I think.

Comments

[jij.livejournal.com]

*blushes* Neruda! I could only hope to be a rich enough writer that I evoked Neruda in any way.

This is...really beautiful, and oddly hopeful, too. I love "the dazzling lances of our love" combined with that wonderful taunt. And the last stanza, all of it, is so gorgeous. It may well end up being the epigraph for the next arc, actually.

Thank you. Thank you, thank you! It's been a terribly gray and dismal day here and you've lifted my spirits quite a lot.

[ladybugkay.livejournal.com]

I'm so happy you approve. I've added a link to your series--I hope that's okay; if not, tell me and I'll remove it--so those few who haven't heard of you can get very happy.

When I found this, it just fit so well with _Music of the Spheres_ and I needed some light at the end of that very dark tunnel you're veering toward with it. So. I'm so happy you think it works. Thank you for writing that series!

[jij.livejournal.com]

*grin* I never balk at someone pimping my work!

I needed some light at the end of that very dark tunnel you're veering toward with it.

For some reason I'm really enjoying the bleak undertones in that series. They've developed kind of slowly, and I'm hoping to keep teasing at them over time. There's light there, too, though. There's always a mix. :)

Thank you so much for the kind words, really.

[ladybugkay.livejournal.com]

You're very welcome. Anything I can do to encourage more of your work. Heh.

No, really. Your stories were some of the first that got me into this fandom in the first place, and I am so grateful.

[tmelange.livejournal.com]

Neruda is one of my favorite poets. The great thing about "100 Love Sonnets" is that there is so much that is applicable to...any pairing. I find the book indispensible as inspiration when writing pairings. I like Tapscott's translations, but the best translator, IMHO, is Alastair Reid. He hasn't translated the entire book, but he has translated compilations that include some of the sonnets, and those are the best.

I've only read a couple of chapters of jen_in_japan's MotS, (so I can't comment on whether this fits the Clark of her story) but I see Bruce here.

[ladybugkay.livejournal.com]

I'll definitely look into Reid's translations. Right now, I have only Tapscott's translations of all 100 sonnets, and they are excellent inspiration. thanks for the heads up.

If you do have the chance to read more of Jen's series, you should. It fits Bruce, too, but if you read all the way through what she's written, you'll see what I mean about how it will eventually fit Clark. At least, I think so.

[tmelange.livejournal.com]

>.If you do have the chance to read more of Jen's series, you should.

I'm not a big fan of movieverse-based stories. Something about the reality of the unreality bothers me. I seem to only be able to get into movieverse in certain cases.

>>but if you read all the way through what she's written, you'll see what I mean about how it will eventually fit Clark.

If this poem eventually fits Clark in MotS, she must be taking him to a sad, lonely and ostracized place. LOL But if anyone can do it, I'm sure it's Jen.

[tmelange.livejournal.com]

Oh, I forgot to ask you:

>> writes mostly Bruce/Clark. Or Superman/Batman. Same thing.

Do you really think this is the same thing?

[ladybugkay.livejournal.com]

Yes and no. The dynamics and characterizations are different--as can be the situations--but I lump them together because they are physically the same people and I will read anything with Bruce/Clark and anything with Superman/Batman.

Did that make things clear as fog?

[tmelange.livejournal.com]

LOL, I understand. Your sentence just caught my attention. Sometimes I wonder whether I write four (or five as the case may be) different characters as regards to this "pairing" or whether I write two characters with subtle facets. This "issue" is coming front and center for me in a story I have under development which is Bruce/Superman and Bruce/Clark -- and in my mind (and in the story) there is a big difference. I always wonder how people see this pairing that is not really a pairing at all, IMHO -- it's really a pentagon in my mind, I think. ;)

Anyway, they are just two people...so don't mind me. My mind wanders sometimes. LOL

[ladybugkay.livejournal.com]

Oooh. I can't wait to read that story once you write it. A Bruce caught up in Clark/Superman's dual identities without his own identity issues--at least from the sounds of things? Very interesting.