DISCLAIMER: The Star Trek characters are the property of Paramount Studios, Inc. The poem is the creation and property of Toni Cardinal-Price and is copyright (c) 1987 by Toni Cardinal-Price. Originally printed in Galactic Discourse #5.

Chances Are All Gone

Toni Cardinal-Price

Forgive me, Kirk - I ask too much.

I had hoped you held my answers.

You, his chosen mate,

Were the last to be with him.

And it is, after all,

The Vulcan way.

I should have seen the emptiness in your eyes,

And known he was not with you.

Now, I have touched your pain,

Re-opened the wound and exposed to you,

My own grief.

We are kin in sorrow,

And all he was, is lost to us.

Yet, I envy you, Kirk.

You gave my son the love

I did not allow myself to give.

And, in return,

Received his love.

A rare and precious gift,

And I have learned, over the years,

The most valuable gift of all.

Now, like two lost souls,

We mourn.

You, a man with bittersweet memories

Of love,

And friendship;

And me ... an old fool

Who yearns for such memories,

And who illogically wishes

He had the chance

To try again.