Included in my anthology, Twisted Vine: An Anthology of Short Stories and Poems, is this tribute I wrote to this episode of Doctor Who – The Village of the Damned. I just thought it was very sad they couldn’t be together, but hoped they would someday. Hope you enjoy it.
The Message
On a world unimagined
In a universe untold
Lived a woman of unrenowned
Whose life did once unfold.
Mysterious and magical
Assuredly she did live
Within her galaxy’s environs
Which great visions to her did give.
She walked among the grass and stones,
And sang unto the trees
Where housed many winged and climbing things,
Her words they oft did heed.
Each day seemed no different
The next always came and went,
Till a vision of destruction foretold
Her world would burn as her universe was rent.
As she watched the leaves aflutter
Tumbling across the peaceful ground,
Gathering as gleeful mice in somersaults,
Spinning all around,
A great thunder cracked the fabric defined
As time and space, breaking the multi-ways;
Its universes of galaxies and dimensions
Where light and darkness divided all the days.
Her power alone could not repair
The damage that was done,
But vision begged her so she spake
Upon the stars seeking for only one.
Beyond her universe his lonely heart
Was found, so instantly hers he knew,
Both understanding great powers that
Make all living worlds — too few.
Her message was harnessed by the stars
Sending out her one true plea, “Come!”
Knowing with the multi-verses in such peril
Soon all the lovely visions would succumb.
“Help I need,” she prayed the powers,
“So bring him unto me,
To the very heart where light and love
Abound for those within this sea.”
He looked upon the message
Without much understanding,
But heeded Astrid’s urgency knowing
Only he had such power commanding.
Across the timelines, through the dimensions
He followed the star-trail of his quest,
He and his companion fighting all the forces
Impeding his desire to fulfill his very best.
Upon arrival, prepared for intervention,
Expecting an ending of all his latter days,
His arsenal was readied, but he feared
Too late for the mending of the ways.
All seemed lost as he gazed upon
The darkness which did abound
Where once bright light swirled o’r heavens
To shine on many worlds all ’round.
He questioned his awareness asking,
“I think…have I seen this before?”
Till a spark of hope winked upon a
Blackened cinder-world once more.
“There!” he cried and hurried
To the sight of lone absolution
To gaze upon a vine encrusted citadel of death,
The light within crying for resolution.
“What is it?” His companion, a lesser being,
Inquired of his sighting.
His explanations confusing until he said,
“Only that for which we would be fighting.”
“This is the last refuge of the sacred holy
And there she lies inside
For nary a universe of heavens and earths
Would exist for me if ever she had died.”
He used his mighty powers
To part the door’s lone way
To find an unkempt garden with spirits
Who could only be the ancient fey.
He cleared the once worn path
To follow her beckoning voice
All the while marveling at the beauty
That was, apparently, her choice.
“Look, there,” was softly spoken.
“It’s her. This time I’m not too late.
She held the rent until I came.”
He ran as his companion begged, “No, wait.”
But he longed to see the vision
He’d witnessed through her star-sent plea
Finding only her barren framework housed
In tattered threads, her figure so incomplete.
It touched his lonely heart
With such a pain he could never say.
He halted his advance, his heart revealing
His sorrowful moan along the way.
There, set upon a wicker swing,
Peaceful as if in slumber,
Hung from majestic boughs intertwined
With succulent vines beyond number,
The remnant of a lonely being
Awaiting his prowess
Had slept too long, but its meaning
He could never truly guess.
The magic of her power felt
Mighty as they approached,
Though only bones and whitened hair
Seemed their sad reproach.
Though its life appeared forever spent
Sparkling colors of untold powers
Began to re-animate her ethereal essence
A reprieve for their lost hours.
There she formed as he dreamt she would,
Her glowing face’s beauty recognized.
Tentatively shy, they stepped closer.
“I called,” she said. “I heard,” he replied.
“I kept these worlds for you,” she told,
“And would have waited through all of time,
Because your coming crossed too many lines,
None of which, till now, were mine.
“I’ve strolled this lovely secret grove
For just this moment, to tell you of my life,
And how your final coming will rekindle our love
For now I can live without aging as your wife.
“I may only live now as memory,
But felt myself fulfilled to stay
For in this spirit I’ll wait again for you
Until you’ve found your journey’s way.
“Return when sanctuary you seek
To find such was denied us before,
A lasting love you will always know,
And shall have forevermore.”
He added his own power, sealed with his kiss,
To hid all where she would stay,
To travel ’bout the universes,
Only he knowing their secret way.
Seeking her with his last return
Her living form would again be replaced,
So their united powers with the stars
Can encompass all the visions of intercosmic space.
booksbyjudith 