Comments: First, my apologies: this is the first stab--and a quick one--at poetry I've tried in nearly 20 years, and my poems have always been of the rhyme-and-meter type. (Since Vin's aren't, this isn't.) Second, I liked Anne Haney's work in Mag7and in Liar, Liar, and I've used Nettie Wells several times in fics, and I'll continue to, so this is a kind of tribute to a fine character actress.
Webmaster note: Anne Haney, who played the unforgettable Nettie Wells, passed away in May 2001.
Vin rode over hills and through valleys, unmindful of the landscape or the slight chill in the wind. Just a little further.He knew the spot. It was beautiful--not far from the river, but well-hidden by trees, rocks and cliffs. His friends had offered to go with him, but he'd politely refused.
"It's just somethin' I gotta do," he'd told them.
He dismounted at last and slowly approached the neatly-hewn wooden cross, with "Nettie Wells" carved carefully into it.
He took off his hat and bowed his head to "say some words," as JD would have put it. Speechmaking was never one of his talents. He left that to people like Ezra, and like Josiah, who had said a lot of beautiful words at the funeral. He blinked back the tears that clung to his lashes. He had wanted to be alone to say good-bye to his friend and now words wouldn't come.
"And if they did, it's like they were written on the wind, here and gone," he thought sadly.
He looked around, watching the wind stir the willow branches over the river as the water burbled gently over the rocks. It came to him slowly but it came at last.
I'll see you when it snows.
Soft tufts of white crowning tender branches.
I'll see you when it rains.
Gentle tears to wash the land clean and new.
I'll see you in the sun.
Warm light to strip away cold shadow.
You left your mark in a place few have been.
On my heart. On my soul.
I'll let the willows weep for me
Like you, they bend with the wind
And welcome the rain, knowing the sun will follow.
When God says it's time, I'll see you again.
It's written on the wind.He put on his hat and, with one last look, climbed on his horse and rode away.
END
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