DISCLAIMER: The Star Trek characters are the property of Paramount Studios, Inc. This poem is copyright (c) 1977 by Toni Cardinal-Price. It was originally published in Berengaria #9, 1977.

Meetings

Toni Cardinal-Price

How much older you look,

The graying hair, the wrinkled skin

And slightly trembling hand.

So frail you appear to me now

So frail...

And yet, that same glint remains in your eyes

As it always has.

The understanding and willingness to learn

And to accept as your own--

The strangeness of an alien world.

Memories.

Of a childhood that is best forgotten;

Of emotion wanting to embrace you

But withdrawing instead, within my shell of inhibition.

I had chosen a better way ... a logical way.

And silently you suffered.

Oh, Mother...

He holds up his fingers now

And you make contact.

In his eyes a quiet reserve,

A proper politeness as he introduces you.

He is displeased with me still--

I sense it, and it disturbs me;

It has always been so.

A small boy of long ago

Who could not receive approval from him--

Or, was I seeking too much?

I tried ... I truly did try

But failed.

I am sorry, Father.

The both of you standing there,

I suddenly realize how very much I want to say

What you have meant to me.

How much I...

No. This is foolishness.

To dwell on it is illogical,

Unworthy.

So, I'll stand stiffly,

A mask of unemotion covering the pain

And I'll say quietly,

"Captain, Ambassador Sarek and his wife are my parents."