This is the third in a series of poems I am writing,
poems which focus on Tom Paris. Please feel free to
write me and let me know what you think. 🙂
3. Looking Behind The Mask
By Jessica Ferroni
Arrogant.
If I’d been asked to describe him in one word,
I would have said “arrogant”.
How could I have been so blind?
Cocky. Self-centered. Rude.
Arrogant.
And then, one day when I wasn’t looking,
it snuck up on me. Hit me, just like that.
And I realized it wasn’t all arrogance.
We are more alike than you realize, Starfleet….
….Maquis?
No, neither. As surely as Kathryn Janeway
is Starfleet, you and I are not,
And as surely as I am Maquis, you are not.
But you wear your mask so much better than I.
So much better than I ever will, Paris.
And what are you hiding behind that mask?
Do you trust me? I won’t let you fall.
And what goes on beneath those beautifully
cerulean eyes of yours?
Do they reflect the care I feel for you?
I thought I knew your type. Give them that
smile and they’ll follow you to the ends
of the galaxy.
I was wrong, Paris. I don’t know you at all.
And, somehow, that fills me with regret.
I’m sorry. Seventy-five years isn’t long enough
to learn all there is about you.
But that doesn’t matter.
I love you for who you are.
You were there for me when I needed you, in
that Vidiian prison.
You have a gently vulnerable side, like the
One I discovered in myself that day.
I was scared, Tom.
And I was scared I was going to lose you.
Lose what I had just found.
In you, and myself.
Do you even know how much I care for you?
Maybe someday you will.
And, Tom? Someday you’ll find your niche in
the galaxy, somewhere you can be free to
live and love.
I believe in you.
End.
© Copyright October 1996 Jessica Ferroni
Evenstar17@hotmail.com. (My abbreviated copyright) 🙂