This is just to say...

by Himring

Summary:

A letter to the author, by a writer of fan fiction.
That is, to Tolkien.

Notes:

Written for a prompt in the SWG's "Dear Irmo" challenge, this is a defence of fanworks, even if it is poetically framed, so if that needs a warning, consider yourself warned!

Dear John Ronald,

Thank you very much for the yarn you sent! Such beautiful colours! Forest green, sea blue, fiery red, and the marvellous gold and silver of mallorns! Wonderful threads of mithril and silima!

For a while, I just stacked all the balls of yarn up and admired them, like a bowl of fruit or a pile of jewels. And that was good, too.

But I am a weaver, too, in a small way, and my fingers began to itch. And so, I began weaving them into a blanket. And then I discovered that there was yarn left, and I made a pillow case to go with the blanket. And then I discovered that there seemed to be more yarn left over than I had had to begin with, and so I went on weaving, making scarves and mats and throws, and giving them away to people who I hoped might like them or find them useful.

And there were those who told me that the colours had pleased their eye in an idle moment. That warmed my heart. And there were those who told me they had wrapped themselves in my blanket against the cold in the middle of the night. That meant so much to me!

And there were those who shook their heads and frowned and said I was misusing my skill, because the yarns I wove where not mine and I should have spun my own. Some said I was wasting my time; others even seemed to think I was doing something shameful.

But I did not unpick your own tapestries to make any of these things, John Ronald. They are still there, for all to see! Nothing was destroyed or damaged in my making and I have not taken anything away from others. If there is one thing that I have learned in this, it is that the more we weave, the more there is to weave.

And maybe another day I will walk out into the pastures and start shearing the sheep myself and learn all that craft, too, from the bottom up. And that will be good, too. But it is not this day.

I do not know whether you would want any of your yarn back, once I began meddling with it. Possibly none of it!

But it soothed my mind to weave your yarn, I learned much in the doing of it, and your threads connected me with others.

And so, I am content.

Forgive me.

Yours,

H.

Notes:

The title is based on  "This Is Just To Say", by William Carlos Williams, in which the poet appropriates plums and makes a poem out of them.

 

 

 

 

 

The SWG's "Dear Irmo" challenge is here (link goes to SWG Archive) and the fanworks posted for it so can be found by clicking on the link. I highly recommend both the stories by Narya and by Kaylee Arafinwiel, which were written for the same prompt!