Chillingly beautiful and hauntingly sad. This is probably the best summary of the immensely complex character shown in the books but masked behind plot twists and prejudice.

Yes! This is gorgeous in its grief.

Give me my cloak, my mask, I'll strut your bloody stage
Though curtains fall, and shadows mock at me,
And blood-red eyes
Burn upon every turn. If not me, who?
And if not now, then when?

The allusion to the world being a stage is very striking.

Turn the dark mind to the light,
Turn the light mind to the dark again.

I've always wondered what Snape would have needed to do to fool Tom Riddle, a skilled Legilimens. He must have had to bury the best parts of him fairly deep, and wear the disagreableness/anger/rage on the outside. No wonder he did not seem like a pleasant person to most people...

I love poetry (what I consider good stuff like Dylan Thomas, T.S. Eliot, Donne, etc.) and to be honest, I generally avoid poetry on , but this was enjoyable. It makes me wish I could write poetry, but I'm a prose person. It captures Snape very well and I quite like the last two stanzas.

That was amazing, dark and we do get a glimps into the mind of the double agent. I really think Snape should have lived, gone aboard (as the saying goes) and found love and friends after the war.

That is wonderful. I am almost lost for words. I am so glad that you were not. Thank you so much. I feel humbled by my lack of learning when I find gems like this.
'I was born on the feast of Janus two faced-agony
And masks are mine by birthright.'

That gives me the shivers.

Wow. That is just incredibly well written and I loved it and it's so - er - well Snapeish. It sounds like a train of thought, but an inteligent, organzed mind. It sounds so much like Snape. It is so clever. Your metaphors and references are just superb.

Jemma

heh heh heh, i adore snape fans, they are so adorable obstinent! still this poem was rather melodious and i love it when i can read soemthing and see deeper thinking, further reading. ^^ you have my compliments

Simply glorious... your accolades are earnestly deserved.

As one of the more poetic writers I know, even in prose, it's lovely to read your actual poetry. So much of your writing has a very fine taste on the tongue -- wonderful to read aloud, not just for the chance to hear it, but to feel it spoken.

"I, being so, must shape myself
Into a tool that serves the purpose of the day:
A mouth to pay
Lip-service to the service of the night"

or "Finding a fine course through the courts of pain"

"Agone? And shall I slay?
Before the old ram falls to the wolf and the sons of blood run riot
Through the groves of learning?"

These are really quite wonderful words to speak.

And naturally you, as usual, plumb the depths of Snape, to where one imagines him truly and fully realized.

reading this poem make me wish to come back to my old school days, when we wrote essays about every Dante's word... with enjoyment (now you undersand why I'm so fond of Granger eh?)
this " Duet for One" is so full of sad meanings! And the choice of words gives to the reader the pure joy of the music:
"Lip-service to the service of the night" "Walking the knife's edge between sun and moon," are amazing lines, but verses as the following are stunning for the complexity, the deep meaning, the sound of every word near to the other:

"I never looked to be
So bloody lonely. Can you see
How, cutting, I am cut (to the flinching quick)?
How I desire what I fear yet fear
What I desire? Friendship's warming fire
Might burn me up. When as a child the children tried
To lead me to the wolf I knew my place, then;
I am still
Hemmed in by wolves, although my teeth are sharp."

Thank you. Again.

Shall I compare thee to a winter's day?
Thou art as bleak and cold and unadorned,
Under thin ice, the water's blue turns grey,
And will you sink, unheralded, unmourned?
...
One loss of grip and grippe ends your endeavour;
One little slip will see you sleep forever.

Nice poem!

I don't generally read poetry fanfic, as it is fairly universally awful, but I was pleasantly surprised by this one.

I think you have strong insight into the character of Severus Snape.

I never noticed the Janus connection, that's extremely interesting, and I doubt it was an accident on JKR's part, I'll have to look into that...

That was some really great writing! I just have to say that I love the title...and the writing. I could never do anything like that.

Wow. I'm not normally a huge fan of poetry, especially free verse, but this was excellent. Thank you very much for the explanatory notes; I used to think I was pretty well-educated, before I started reading your writings, as well as Shiv's. Now I read with open at all times, so that I can catch the nuances.

I really like the way that you've caught Snape's mindset here. I've always LIKED (as opposed to only lusted after) him in your works. So many writers (and readers) seem to positively revel in evil! or bastard!Snape, but you give him such wonderful humanity.

I really liked the one description of him that you used in Mood Music, "all nose and nerves and attitude" - I think that really fits him. You don't try to make him completely noble or less of a slightly-immature drama queen, and I like that. At the same time, you show him with such STRONG ethics and morals that's it impossible not to respect him. He IS a remarkably three-dimensional character, and you capture that very well.

Again, thank you SO much for sharing your work and your vision with us. M