~*~
I see a man, where there was once a boy.
My fault
he's grown up too soon.
Or has he?
I will never forget that I could have told him.
Yes, the secret that will never rest
now awoken
paces like an angry tiger
in the back of three minds
but I will never forget
that he could have known sooner.
So many opportunities
five years of missed moments
simply to reveal the existence of
one little glass bauble
just another ghostly voice
in an entire room full of wonder.
He was always too young
too vulnerable
too pure.
I never meant to hurt him.
And now, here we stand,
facing each other across a desk
stripped of its belongings
destroyed in his rage
for an old man's mistake
I will never forget this error.
And I will never forget
how he's looking at me now
with eyes burning
tears still glazed on his cheeks
a man now
initiated with a man's sorrow
but a boy
a boy who's been abandoned once more
because of me.
Because I flinched in the face of youth
and tried to protect him
just a little longer
and see how it goes now
it's hurting him even more.
I will never forget…
I Will Never Forget by MoonysMistress
Chapter Notes: Hey, look who's back! *wink* This poem is a very broad interpretation of the prompt, which includes the sentence: "Using a canon character, write about a situation where someone could have done something, but refrained, causing disastrous results." Dumbledore himself said that the consequences of his procrastination in telling Harry about the prophecy had led to the scene in the Department of Mysteries. Or something like that, anyway. Hopefully, er, this poem still qualifies – anything to gain any points for my beloved Ravenclaws! Best of luck to everyone; no matter what the outcome, everyone's poetry is fantastic. You may now proceed to my poem, which is told from Dumbledore's perspective.