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English
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Peja's Wonderful World of Makebelieve Import
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Published:
2020-11-05
Words:
419
Chapters:
1/1
Kudos:
4
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694

In The Dark

Summary:

The Miranda Jones-inspired poetry has left me with the urge to post my own. To me, Miranda Jones is a fascinating character who made a significant contribution to the development f the K/S relationship. The poem below isn't K/S, so please don't read it if you are avoiding anything OT. It was written a long time ago (it shows) and I'm still trying to get from here to all the other dynamics of that episode,including Miranda's effort to woo Spock away from the Enterprise; her
jealousy of him which had nothing to do with sexual jealousy in the
traditional sense; the desperate force Kirk used to make her save Spock; and
the serenity they all showed at the end of the ep. How did they get to that
place, I wonder? I would love to see the missing scenes.

Notes:

(See the end of the work for notes.)

Work Text:

 

IN THE DARK
by Judith

Try to imagine it: the *humiliation*
Of being eight, and newly blind, and
Feeling your sensor cane slip from your hand
And fall through a grating in the sidewalk.
My lifeline cut, I fought back tears and panic,
But I couldn't fight my own helplessness,
And I had to be grateful to the grown-up
Who led me home by the hand like a baby.
"She mustn't go out alone again," I overheard
My mother tell my father, and the tears
Stung my throat like acid. You understand
How grown-up I thought I was until then,
How I revelled in an eight-year-old's responsibilities
As my own peculiar childish self-assertion.
"Watch dinner for me, Miranda, there's a big girl";
"Miranda, keep an eye on Jason, please." Now Miranda
Couldn't keep an eye on anything
Anymore.

They say we live in an enlightened age,
No longer segregated, isolated, warehoused,
Our rights secure, our opportunities abundant --
And I suppose that's true, if you can measure progress
In volumes of Federation regulations.
I'd have traded them all
For the part in the school play they wouldn't let me have,
Afraid I'd stumble into the scenery --
It was their own embarrassment they feared, not mine.
And all the time my latent telepathy, that
Mocking compensatory sense, grew like a monster,
Nourished on their 'sympathy.' So I fled
To Vulcan, to tame my mind, to escape
The thoughts they couldn't hide from me: their pity.

Shall I tell you about the men, or can you guess?
Those who tried to take advantage, for what you do
In the dark doesn't count, and those afraid to --
Thinking me some icy saint or martyr, as though
Losing one sense had shorn me of all sensation --
And those who simply had no use for a woman
Who couldn't reflect back to them
Their own vanity. James Kirk,
Would you have woo'd me as you did, if you'd known?
I could hear it in your voice: the assurance
Of a man who knows how women *see* him,
Calculates the effect each smile will have
Upon the mesmerized beholder.
How ironic it must have been to find that all along
I was as immune to you as I'm immune to Kollos --
Indifferently tolerant
Of his ugliness and your beauty.
You may not want my tolerance. But admit at least
That there's a certain justice in it:
You are both equal, in my eyes,
And that, my friend,
Is more than I've found yet on your world!
 

Notes:

This orphaned work was originally on Pejas WWOMB posted by author Judith.
If this work is yours and you would like to reclaim ownership, you can click on the Technical Support and Feedback link at the bottom fo the page.