Do you know this fic?

[originalmsjane.livejournal.com]

This is a tough one. I can't remember which fic I read where Spike quotes Pablo Neruda's Sonnet 17 to Buffy - including in a really hot love scene where he quotes each line in between his - ahem - attentions to Buffy. Can anyone remember the fic?

Here's the poem:

I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz,
or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off.
I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,
in secret, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that never blooms
but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers;
thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance,
risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.
I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;
so I love you because I know no other way

than this: where I does not exist, nor you,
so close that your hand on my chest is my hand,
so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.

Comments

[penname-me.livejournal.com]

idk if this is helpful but I google'd the first paragraph and then added spuffy fanfiction and got this?

http://spikeluver.com/SpuffyRealm/viewstory.php?sid=19153

[originalmsjane.livejournal.com]

I don't think that's it, but thanks for trying. I did a Google search too, and it looks like more than one author quoted that poem, but none of the fics in my search results look like the one I read. The poem was heavily featured in the fic I read and Spike specifically quotes it, line by line, in the last scene. Argh...

[drknit.livejournal.com]

A couple of possibilities:

"What is Choice" by Melissa -- includes:

"I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride," he said, pulling his fingers away and positioning himself at her entrance. She spread her legs wide, eager to feel him. He paused, looking at her. His eyes seem to glow in the darkened room, two blue sparks in the darkness. When he spoke, his voice seemed to pulse with sincerity. "So I love you because I know no other way," he said, gazing into her eyes.

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/1530253/1/What_is_Choice



Also, maybe "Falling" by wisteria? He recites the poem as she's sleeping:

I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz;
or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off...

His voice is low, barely more than a whisper, but she can hear every bit of him. As she pretends to sleep, he murmurs poetry. If he knows she's awake, he doesn't let on. She doubts it, though; she senses that he wants to keep this part of him a secret.

http://classic-web.archive.org/web/20030803103748/www.alanna.net/btvs/falling.htm

The fic that quotes Neruda

[originalmsjane.livejournal.com]

I don't think those are it either. Arghh... I'm sure I reviewed the story and I read most of my stories on Elysian Fields. If only there was a way to search my reviews, then I could find it.

I can't believe how many people have quoted that poem. Crazy!

Thanks for the help drknit. The search continues...

Re: The fic that quotes Neruda

[drknit.livejournal.com]

Really? It's not "What is Choice?" That one has *everything* you talked about -- him quoting line by line in the last chapter as they were in bed together. It might also be on EF (or could have been in the past but since taken down, or there with a different author name or something).

Re: The fic that quotes Neruda

[originalmsjane.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I wondered if that was it, but I looked on EF and Spuffy Realm and it wasn't in either of those places. I'll have to read more of it again. It must be it. Too much of a coincidence!

Thanks. :-)

Re: The fic that quotes Neruda

[drknit.livejournal.com]

I just realized that fanfiction.net doesn't include the chapter with the scene you're describing (Epilogue Two: Give You My Heart, Give You My Shoulder). But the entire fic is also archived at Sinister Attraction:
http://www.sinister-attraction.net/stories/m/choice.htm

The scene comes at the end, found here:
http://www.sinister-attraction.net/stories/m/choice4.htm

Re: The fic that quotes Neruda

[originalmsjane.livejournal.com]

YES!

It IS "What is Choice" by Melissa.

I forgot that I used to read fics at Sinister Attraction too. And once I read the opening again about the Fates I remembered. Yay!

Wow. You're good.

Thanks so much. Hee!

[moscow-watcher.livejournal.com]

I remember Spike recitating Neruda in "The Butterfly Effect" but it was another sonnet.

The fic that quotes Neruda

[originalmsjane.livejournal.com]

Yeah, no, it was definitely the sonnet I quoted because I went and learned it in Spanish I loved it so much!

[shadowlass.livejournal.com]

I think Isabelle also may have had a Spuffy story that quoted Neruda, but I have no idea what story it might have been, and am having a hard time finding any of her stuff on the web.

[shadowlass.livejournal.com]

Also...how about this? Soul Mates (http://spikeluver.com/SpuffyRealm/viewstory.php?action=printable&textsize=0&sid=4982&chapter=all), by Sara.

The fic that quotes Neruda

[originalmsjane.livejournal.com]

Hey shadowlass,

It wasn't Soul Mates, but thanks! I'm pretty sure it was "What is Choice" now.

Cheers,

MsJane