Farewell, farewell, O warrior brave,
Nobody can from Death thee save.It’s broken, that one. It doesn’t have a gun (Steven Moffat, “Listen” Doctor who) // All the soldiers looked exactly alike except one. He looked a little different as he had been cast last of all. (Hans Christian Andersen, The
Steadfast Tin Soldier, tr. by Jean Hersholt)Danny Pink
was the man who tried to be the Steadfast Tin Soldier in a world that didn’t
believe in fairy tales anymore. He was the silent vigil in a child’s world,
crippled, not in his flesh but in his heart; the spoon he was made of was childhood-brittle
and war-corroded. He was the timid lover of a paper doll, a girl made of books
and rustling steps, and the stubborn and cool antagonist of the Jack in-the-box,
of all trade, reluctant puppet master. He was the brave castaway in an ocean of
strangeness, where an alien guarded his school and London was flooded with
trees and howling. Always, he stood steadfast, unwavering in his love for the
paper doll, for home, for children, and iron-clad in his need for truth and
good. Danny was not a soldier when he did all those things, not anymore.But a tin
heart he got in the end.Danny died
for no reason at all, just like the Tin Soldier from the story. Probably put to
it by the Jack, a cruel child, instead of throwing him into the stove, put him
in a box of metal, a metal suit, with a metal weapon and a metal heart. Soldiers
keep the whole world safe. So Danny
burnt in flames a soldier to keep the
world safe from him. But Danny was not a soldier when he loved the paper
doll, cared for the children and came back from death’s belly. He was iron-clad
in his need for trust and promises. He burnt in flames for Clara.And here’s
where this is not a fairy tale: the paper doll didn’t burn with him.(Feel free to delete the rambling)
danny pink appreciation week > day 5: meta
(This may not be strictly meta, but it’s so beautifully written, I love it.)