"Principles of Growth" Sonnet Redoublé
Aug. 30th, 2008 10:28 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lit_luminaryAll right, it's not the prequel you're all hoping for, but I'm willing to bet you'll be impressed anyway.
Why?
Because the sonnet redoublé is the most complicated sonnet sequence I've found. It comprises fifteen sonnets, the first fourteen forming a corona (i.e., the last line of each sonnet is the same as the first line of the next, and the last line of the last sonnet is the same as the first line of the first, completing the circle) and the last is formed from the fourteen linking lines, in order.
This one is a kaleidoscopic (i.e., fragmented and not presented in any sequential order) look at "Principles of Growth", with sonnets from House's, Wilson's, Chase's and Andromeda's perspectives.
1. House: Heresy
When hypocrisy’s cast in golden light
Then shadows must be thrown on by their speech:
They know they’ll have to bear, unless they fight,
Oppression of the State’s encroaching reach.
Why is it people, sheep-like, just stand mute?
He will not now admit wrong and repent:
He’ll bring to bear a truth they can’t refute,
And be the ringing voice of all dissent.
Outspoken heretics are sent to die
(Or worse) but they will not instead betray
Their principles in favor of the lie
Bound up as gospel back in ancient day.
“From sin”—that is, free will—“all must be freed.”
It is against all nature has decreed.
2. Andromeda: Creation
It is against all nature has decreed,
But she’s past questioning: she has begun.
The powers called will see and grant her need,
And weave a daughter’s gifts into her son.
Imagining her sisters all aghast,
Shocked whispers, steel-cold eyes that brim with scorn
Are not enough to hold intention fast:
This scheme, conceived, now clamors to be born.
In memory, Alcyone still weeps
For her firstborn—a human gone to dust.
This work cannot be wrong, not if it keeps
Her child beside her—Goddess, it must!
O Time, why such a dreadful price incurred?
Before such torture, reason’s struck absurd.
3. Wilson: Aftermath
Before such torture, reason’s struck absurd:
Surely than this the better choice is death.
What grotesque mutilation has occurred—
Far worse than ceasing their heartbeats and breath.
The light in House’s eyes has been snuffed out,
His penetrating gaze now fixed and flat;
And that Minerva’s lost he cannot doubt:
If they were whole, she’d never cry out that
Litany, voice gone animal in pain,
And House would hold her fast against his heart
Until they were collected, calm again—
He’s apathetic now that they’re apart.
No benevolent god condoned this deed.
No answer’s left that anyone could read.
4. House: Interregnum
No answer’s left that anyone could read,
No logic here that even he could guess.
Within his chest the ache of thwarted need,
A pain only her presence could redress.
But unforgiving steel now bars the way,
And so he sits alone, hands pressed to heart:
No comforting warm weight, naught but to say
Their truth survives, though they’ll be torn apart.
Eyes closed against the drabness of the walls,
He walks the labyrinth of memory:
They argued, forgave, laughed and he recalls
Those things that he let only Wilson see.
This devastation works to no one’s gain.
This is a journey fraught with too much pain.
5. Wilson: Sacrifice
This is a journey fraught with too much pain,
To cast a life-deep bond beneath a knife—
And yet to stay intact, go home again
When wholeness' price is his partner’s life…
Magic’s no miracle; he’s undeceived,
And knows too well the price he’ll likely pay,
But whence House has been sent, he’ll be retrieved,
Though from each other they’ll be cut away.
He clutches Rona close and says goodbye;
In their joint heart, fierce love and terror war—
But this call is one they cannot defy,
This loss one they cannot live to endure.
He prays for House to wake and understand
This sacrifice: some higher law’s demand.
6. Andromeda: Descent
This sacrifice, some higher law’s demand:
There has to be some meaning she can find.
Was this agony spun by Morai’s hand,
That works to crush her heart and break her mind?
She will not leave, but cannot bear to stay
When all she is still urges her to fly.
She used to think that there might be some way
To lead a human life, but can’t deny
What she was born to be: a being of air,
Who rides upon the swift back of each wind.
Rowan can’t understand, or even care:
He’d just scold, “Anne!” and tell her that she’d sinned.
Even the burn of gin won’t dull the pain:
No mercy in this unforgiving strain.
7. Chase: Seminary
No mercy in this unforgiving strain,
Concealing heresy with pious mask.
He knows to fall in line ‘hind clergy’s train,
And make submissive worship seem his task.
But as he chants the prayers, his soul repeats
The words of praise to Her they learnt in youth—
And when he prays to Mary, that conceit’s
Enough: no one who hears will guess the truth.
The scorn and neglect meted out for years
Were repaid: justice wrapped in fury’s heat.
But justice could not dry his helpless tears,
Couldn’t make devastation less complete.
No one left his nature to understand;
No one to anchor him with steady hand.
8. Andromeda: Guardian
No one to anchor him with steady hand,
Save her, so she denies her birthright’s call:
Every beat of her heart cries a demand,
But she cannot take flight and let him fall.
She promised long ago she’d never leave,
That on the path he walked she’d be his guide.
But still, for all she’s lost she has to grieve:
A bleeding wound betrays two worlds’ divide.
Her child, though, is worth even that price:
He grows and laughs and learns and loves and plays,
And her pretense is worth the sacrifice
When it means he can watch and learn her ways.
But still her longings go unrealized,
Locked in a cage that cruelty devised.
9. Chase: Helpless
Locked in a cage that cruelty devised—
Seeing her now, what else is there to think?
Is this what Rowan wanted, realized?
(Seething, he pours full bottles down the sink.)
Once she was exultant, strong and free:
Why is it that fierce power's disappeared?
He doesn’t need the gift she gave to see
That this will end exactly as he feared.
No matter how he yells or begs or cries
She still fills glasses with astringent death—
Why is it that no matter what he tries,
It seems that he’s only wasting his breath?
Tears spill as he kneels down against the door:
It’s what’s essential that he reaches for.
10. House: Terminus
It’s what’s essential that he reaches for:
The knowledge that he’s right is all that counts.
He tries not to look out the cage’s door,
But still he sees the blade, and terror mounts.
To know this is the end, know all they’ll lose
When cold steel cuts the cord that makes them one…
If he could do it over, would he choose
To speak out still, knowing what he’d begun?
No time for fear. No time even to speak,
Except the few brief words that pass within:
At least, he thinks, they never once were weak
Enough to say their nature was a sin.
Better death than complicity in lies:
Their inner truth won’t tolerate disguise.
11. Andromeda: Resolve
Their inner truth won’t tolerate disguise;
No words silence the cry of blood betrayed.
To shed the human mask would let them rise,
But reason stands against that path arrayed:
Her child needs her still, to guide and teach,
And she dare not take him away with her.
Rowan would extend all the Church’s reach
(Another truth that she cannot defer).
But Callisto was right: to live this lie
Will only grind her soul into the dust.
If staying for him means that they will die…
They’ll bear the consequences, as they must.
There are some things worth sacrificing for:
They know to stand unyielding and endure.
12. Chase: Departure
They know to stand unyielding and endure,
And also to hide what they truly are—
But some atrocities they can’t ignore;
This mutilation takes Church creed too far.
They’ve played their part. Now they arrange to leave
And build a life they won’t have to conceal.
Perhaps through human means he can achieve
At least the spirit of his gift, and heal.
That path ends in an office walled in glass,
Beside a man whose genius brightly burns;
And whose exploits none ever could surpass,
Whose risks yield near-miraculous returns.
He fears for House, driven towards truth and right:
Why is it heresy to dare to fight?
13. House: Outspoken
Why is it heresy to dare to fight?
They cannot follow, docile, ‘hind the crowd.
They know enough those gilded lies to blight;
Won't hide the knowledge they can speak aloud.
It’s a risk, but one someone has to take,
And love of truth outweighs potential fear.
Somehow, they vow, they’ll shock the world awake;
They’ll find the words society must hear.
If heresy’s refusing to believe
That it’s by bloodshed paradise is built,
He won’t say otherwise, and so deceive:
He will not feel one fleeting instant’s guilt
When zealotry would destroy all that’s right;
When hypocrisy's cast in golden light.
14. Wilson: Waiting
When hypocrisy's cast in golden light,
He sees a regime 'gainst all natural laws.
To say that blind obedience is right—
Surely for that there is no valid cause.
Fears gnaw at him with every brazen chance
House takes. This charge, nightmares borne into day.
No sharp invective or withering glance
Will shield against the perils in his way.
Please let them stop at candle, book and bell,
For what’s beyond the grave is far surpassed
By imposition of a mortal hell
Beyond any soul’s power to outlast—
To that terror, death is to be preferred:
It is annihilation in a word.
15. Sonnet Redoublé: Intercision
It is annihilation, in a word;
It is against all nature has decreed.
Before such torture reason’s struck absurd:
No answer’s left that anyone could read.
This is a journey fraught with too much pain,
This sacrifice some higher law’s demand:
No mercy in this unforgiving strain,
No one to anchor him with steady hand.
Locked in a cage that cruelty devised,
It’s what’s essential that he reaches for:
Their inner truth won’t tolerate disguise.
They know to stand unyielding and endure.
Why is it heresy to dare to fight
When hypocrisy’s cast in golden light?
Author's Notes:
In sonnet two, 'Alcyone' is pronounced 'Al-see-oh-nee.' Only one reference was made to her in "Principles"; she is Andromeda's oldest sister.
In sonnet six, 'Morai' is the singular of 'Moirae'—the collective name used by the Greeks to refer to the Fates. More information here.
In sonnet fourteen, the line "Please let them stop at candle, book and bell" refers to a ritual of excommunication once used by the Roman Catholic Church. After the ceremonial excommunication, the book (symbolizing the Book of Life) was closed, the candle thrown to the ground and extinguished, symbolizing the lost soul, and the bell rung to denote a spiritual death.
Why?
Because the sonnet redoublé is the most complicated sonnet sequence I've found. It comprises fifteen sonnets, the first fourteen forming a corona (i.e., the last line of each sonnet is the same as the first line of the next, and the last line of the last sonnet is the same as the first line of the first, completing the circle) and the last is formed from the fourteen linking lines, in order.
This one is a kaleidoscopic (i.e., fragmented and not presented in any sequential order) look at "Principles of Growth", with sonnets from House's, Wilson's, Chase's and Andromeda's perspectives.
1. House: Heresy
When hypocrisy’s cast in golden light
Then shadows must be thrown on by their speech:
They know they’ll have to bear, unless they fight,
Oppression of the State’s encroaching reach.
Why is it people, sheep-like, just stand mute?
He will not now admit wrong and repent:
He’ll bring to bear a truth they can’t refute,
And be the ringing voice of all dissent.
Outspoken heretics are sent to die
(Or worse) but they will not instead betray
Their principles in favor of the lie
Bound up as gospel back in ancient day.
“From sin”—that is, free will—“all must be freed.”
It is against all nature has decreed.
2. Andromeda: Creation
It is against all nature has decreed,
But she’s past questioning: she has begun.
The powers called will see and grant her need,
And weave a daughter’s gifts into her son.
Imagining her sisters all aghast,
Shocked whispers, steel-cold eyes that brim with scorn
Are not enough to hold intention fast:
This scheme, conceived, now clamors to be born.
In memory, Alcyone still weeps
For her firstborn—a human gone to dust.
This work cannot be wrong, not if it keeps
Her child beside her—Goddess, it must!
O Time, why such a dreadful price incurred?
Before such torture, reason’s struck absurd.
3. Wilson: Aftermath
Before such torture, reason’s struck absurd:
Surely than this the better choice is death.
What grotesque mutilation has occurred—
Far worse than ceasing their heartbeats and breath.
The light in House’s eyes has been snuffed out,
His penetrating gaze now fixed and flat;
And that Minerva’s lost he cannot doubt:
If they were whole, she’d never cry out that
Litany, voice gone animal in pain,
And House would hold her fast against his heart
Until they were collected, calm again—
He’s apathetic now that they’re apart.
No benevolent god condoned this deed.
No answer’s left that anyone could read.
4. House: Interregnum
No answer’s left that anyone could read,
No logic here that even he could guess.
Within his chest the ache of thwarted need,
A pain only her presence could redress.
But unforgiving steel now bars the way,
And so he sits alone, hands pressed to heart:
No comforting warm weight, naught but to say
Their truth survives, though they’ll be torn apart.
Eyes closed against the drabness of the walls,
He walks the labyrinth of memory:
They argued, forgave, laughed and he recalls
Those things that he let only Wilson see.
This devastation works to no one’s gain.
This is a journey fraught with too much pain.
5. Wilson: Sacrifice
This is a journey fraught with too much pain,
To cast a life-deep bond beneath a knife—
And yet to stay intact, go home again
When wholeness' price is his partner’s life…
Magic’s no miracle; he’s undeceived,
And knows too well the price he’ll likely pay,
But whence House has been sent, he’ll be retrieved,
Though from each other they’ll be cut away.
He clutches Rona close and says goodbye;
In their joint heart, fierce love and terror war—
But this call is one they cannot defy,
This loss one they cannot live to endure.
He prays for House to wake and understand
This sacrifice: some higher law’s demand.
6. Andromeda: Descent
This sacrifice, some higher law’s demand:
There has to be some meaning she can find.
Was this agony spun by Morai’s hand,
That works to crush her heart and break her mind?
She will not leave, but cannot bear to stay
When all she is still urges her to fly.
She used to think that there might be some way
To lead a human life, but can’t deny
What she was born to be: a being of air,
Who rides upon the swift back of each wind.
Rowan can’t understand, or even care:
He’d just scold, “Anne!” and tell her that she’d sinned.
Even the burn of gin won’t dull the pain:
No mercy in this unforgiving strain.
7. Chase: Seminary
No mercy in this unforgiving strain,
Concealing heresy with pious mask.
He knows to fall in line ‘hind clergy’s train,
And make submissive worship seem his task.
But as he chants the prayers, his soul repeats
The words of praise to Her they learnt in youth—
And when he prays to Mary, that conceit’s
Enough: no one who hears will guess the truth.
The scorn and neglect meted out for years
Were repaid: justice wrapped in fury’s heat.
But justice could not dry his helpless tears,
Couldn’t make devastation less complete.
No one left his nature to understand;
No one to anchor him with steady hand.
8. Andromeda: Guardian
No one to anchor him with steady hand,
Save her, so she denies her birthright’s call:
Every beat of her heart cries a demand,
But she cannot take flight and let him fall.
She promised long ago she’d never leave,
That on the path he walked she’d be his guide.
But still, for all she’s lost she has to grieve:
A bleeding wound betrays two worlds’ divide.
Her child, though, is worth even that price:
He grows and laughs and learns and loves and plays,
And her pretense is worth the sacrifice
When it means he can watch and learn her ways.
But still her longings go unrealized,
Locked in a cage that cruelty devised.
9. Chase: Helpless
Locked in a cage that cruelty devised—
Seeing her now, what else is there to think?
Is this what Rowan wanted, realized?
(Seething, he pours full bottles down the sink.)
Once she was exultant, strong and free:
Why is it that fierce power's disappeared?
He doesn’t need the gift she gave to see
That this will end exactly as he feared.
No matter how he yells or begs or cries
She still fills glasses with astringent death—
Why is it that no matter what he tries,
It seems that he’s only wasting his breath?
Tears spill as he kneels down against the door:
It’s what’s essential that he reaches for.
10. House: Terminus
It’s what’s essential that he reaches for:
The knowledge that he’s right is all that counts.
He tries not to look out the cage’s door,
But still he sees the blade, and terror mounts.
To know this is the end, know all they’ll lose
When cold steel cuts the cord that makes them one…
If he could do it over, would he choose
To speak out still, knowing what he’d begun?
No time for fear. No time even to speak,
Except the few brief words that pass within:
At least, he thinks, they never once were weak
Enough to say their nature was a sin.
Better death than complicity in lies:
Their inner truth won’t tolerate disguise.
11. Andromeda: Resolve
Their inner truth won’t tolerate disguise;
No words silence the cry of blood betrayed.
To shed the human mask would let them rise,
But reason stands against that path arrayed:
Her child needs her still, to guide and teach,
And she dare not take him away with her.
Rowan would extend all the Church’s reach
(Another truth that she cannot defer).
But Callisto was right: to live this lie
Will only grind her soul into the dust.
If staying for him means that they will die…
They’ll bear the consequences, as they must.
There are some things worth sacrificing for:
They know to stand unyielding and endure.
12. Chase: Departure
They know to stand unyielding and endure,
And also to hide what they truly are—
But some atrocities they can’t ignore;
This mutilation takes Church creed too far.
They’ve played their part. Now they arrange to leave
And build a life they won’t have to conceal.
Perhaps through human means he can achieve
At least the spirit of his gift, and heal.
That path ends in an office walled in glass,
Beside a man whose genius brightly burns;
And whose exploits none ever could surpass,
Whose risks yield near-miraculous returns.
He fears for House, driven towards truth and right:
Why is it heresy to dare to fight?
13. House: Outspoken
Why is it heresy to dare to fight?
They cannot follow, docile, ‘hind the crowd.
They know enough those gilded lies to blight;
Won't hide the knowledge they can speak aloud.
It’s a risk, but one someone has to take,
And love of truth outweighs potential fear.
Somehow, they vow, they’ll shock the world awake;
They’ll find the words society must hear.
If heresy’s refusing to believe
That it’s by bloodshed paradise is built,
He won’t say otherwise, and so deceive:
He will not feel one fleeting instant’s guilt
When zealotry would destroy all that’s right;
When hypocrisy's cast in golden light.
14. Wilson: Waiting
When hypocrisy's cast in golden light,
He sees a regime 'gainst all natural laws.
To say that blind obedience is right—
Surely for that there is no valid cause.
Fears gnaw at him with every brazen chance
House takes. This charge, nightmares borne into day.
No sharp invective or withering glance
Will shield against the perils in his way.
Please let them stop at candle, book and bell,
For what’s beyond the grave is far surpassed
By imposition of a mortal hell
Beyond any soul’s power to outlast—
To that terror, death is to be preferred:
It is annihilation in a word.
15. Sonnet Redoublé: Intercision
It is annihilation, in a word;
It is against all nature has decreed.
Before such torture reason’s struck absurd:
No answer’s left that anyone could read.
This is a journey fraught with too much pain,
This sacrifice some higher law’s demand:
No mercy in this unforgiving strain,
No one to anchor him with steady hand.
Locked in a cage that cruelty devised,
It’s what’s essential that he reaches for:
Their inner truth won’t tolerate disguise.
They know to stand unyielding and endure.
Why is it heresy to dare to fight
When hypocrisy’s cast in golden light?
Author's Notes:
In sonnet two, 'Alcyone' is pronounced 'Al-see-oh-nee.' Only one reference was made to her in "Principles"; she is Andromeda's oldest sister.
In sonnet six, 'Morai' is the singular of 'Moirae'—the collective name used by the Greeks to refer to the Fates. More information here.
In sonnet fourteen, the line "Please let them stop at candle, book and bell" refers to a ritual of excommunication once used by the Roman Catholic Church. After the ceremonial excommunication, the book (symbolizing the Book of Life) was closed, the candle thrown to the ground and extinguished, symbolizing the lost soul, and the bell rung to denote a spiritual death.
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no subject
Date: 2008-08-30 04:57 pm (UTC)The prequel to the dæmonverse AAU is in the works and progressing well, although I can't currently make any promises about a posting date, as I'm currently writing around a full scholastic schedule.
no subject
Date: 2008-08-30 06:02 pm (UTC)And I think that the last two lines - Why is it heresy to dare to fight / When hypocrisy’s cast in golden light? - sum up the whole thing perfectly, because it's the central question to what the church did to House, as well as what Rowan did to Andromeda.
*points to your icon* And I see you found a good use for the image of Rona and Minerva :) It works very well as an icon.
no subject
Date: 2008-08-30 06:20 pm (UTC)The last two lines of the final sonnet _had_ to sum up the whole thing (believe me, the final sonnet was the most difficult part), so it's good to have confirmation that they work.
It does, doesn't it? Thanks again for the image--it suits both versions of the dæmonverse perfectly.
no subject
Date: 2008-08-30 08:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-30 08:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-30 08:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-30 08:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-30 08:58 pm (UTC)Ahem. I kind of hate you a little bit. You are a way better English major than I am, and you have such a gift for poetry that it makes me cry. I adored this, Dianne. I'm so glad you decided to take on the challenge of schooling us in the sonnet redouble, and I'm so selfishly proud that I got most of the references you scattered in here.
While I could quote the whole damn thing at you for lines I loved, I narrowed myself down to a few:
In memory, Alcyone still weeps
For her mortal firstborn, long gone to dust
Eeee, how much do I love that you named Andromeda's sister "Alcyone", for the daughter of the wind in Greek mythology. I do hope your Alycone came to a better end.
But as he chants the prayers, his soul repeats
The words of praise to Her they learnt in youth—
And when he prays to Mary, that conceit’s
Enough: no one who hears will guess the truth.
This is so, so daemonverse-Chase, hiding his light under a basket. I really do love him, the way you've written him, and I love that he prays to the Goddess when he is supposed to be praying to Mary. Very Marion Zimmer Bradley.
Every beat of her heart cries a demand,
But she cannot take flight and let him fall.
I don't think I told you this during the beta for "Principles" itself, but Andromeda broke my heart. Her utter love for her son, and her willingness to sacrifice herself for him was so beautifully depicted, and I adore how you've distilled it here, with the flight metaphors that are so very Andromeda.
At least, he thinks, they never once were weak
Enough to say their nature was a sin.
Better death than complicity with lies:
Oh, House would take comfort in his and Minerva's moral strength. I love it. Everyone lies, except for you, House. Sometimes you most of all. But not in this universe, and not when it counts, even though it costs you and Minerva everything.
But Callisto was right: to live this lie
Will only grind her soul into the dust.
I forget, was Callisto Andromeda's mother or the queen of her clan?
If heresy’s refusing to believe
That it’s by bloodshed paradise is built,
He won’t say otherwise, and so deceive:
He will not feel one fleeting instant’s guilt.
Nothing but love for how you've worded this section. So Housian. Bottled Minerva, too, whom I sometimes suspect holds truth even more sacred than House. And this whole section makes me ponder what House and Minerva think/believe about Dust.
By imposition of a mortal hell
Beyond any soul’s power to outlast—
To that terror, death is to be preferred:
It is annihilation in a word.
You know I adore anything and everything about this 'verse's Wilson. I adore the contrast you've painted in him with this - we know he and Rona will sacrifice a huge part of themself for House and Minerva, but you can just see how far he's willing to take that sacrifice. That entire sonnet I could just hear in RSL's voice, and the end especially. "Annihilation in a word" is probably the clincher - writing doesn't get any better than that.
*applauds and bows* Totally not worthy, you.
no subject
Date: 2008-08-30 09:37 pm (UTC)As far as I know, both of Andromeda's sisters, Alcyone and Callisto, are alive and well and happy, although of course they still miss her. And I'm so pleased to have the significance of the names appreciated.
I have to say, that stanza was one of my overall favorites. And the fact that I got you to like Chase as I wrote him is a treasured entry on my list of accomplishments. *grins* I haven't read Mists of Avalon yet (interest, but no time); the 'praying to Mary as Goddess' came out of research on the cult of Mary and the line in the Charge of the Goddess that lists Mary among Her many names.
Oh... *hugs* I love you for that--Andromeda was essentially my first original character, so I was very insecure about her. I'm thrilled that I managed an execution enabling the heartbreak. (And yes, of course the flight metaphors. Where else could they possibly fit so well?)
As you pointed out so insightfully during the beta--as long as they can speak, they'll speak the truth. So when their own strength is their only comfort... And absolutely--as much as House lies, he doesn't when it really matters--and he'll stand by his principles no matter what the cost.
Neither--as I said above Callisto was another of her sisters (Alcyone is the oldest and Callisto after her, with Andromeda last), whose dæmon visited in that one chapter of "Principles." As Chase found out in his dream, Callisto Sees: that warning was in fact a prophecy.
That stanza was inspired by Ch. 35 of Dostoevsky's "The Brothers Karamazov", wherein Ivan tells his brother Alyosha that he refuses a paradise that's built on the suffering of innocents. It seemed to me a very Housian thing to think--that the ends of (illogical) theology don't justify all the mortal sacrifices. And yes, I think Minerva does hold truth more sacred that House does sometimes (after all, she can't lie). And their views of Dust would be fascinating to explore, although of course I wonder how much about Dust is known outside the Church. If they do know what it is, however, I'd say they believe in it the way most do in God.
Oh, wonderful! That you could _hear_ it is the highest compliment--I'm thrilled that I captured what's essential in Wilson. And yes, 'annihilation in a word' is definitely one of my favorite turns of phrase, too.
And you absolutely are worthy; you wouldn't be godmother of the 'verse otherwise.
no subject
Date: 2008-09-30 03:35 pm (UTC)