Reading what I have just written, I now believe
that if I were to die, I will not remember any of the words I have written, nor the words I have read,
how shall I tell it?
The tree itself will live far longer than I. It is lovelorn, it is the red pine that falls like clockwork. Only then would I think I saw this before. Fossils and skull-caps of the ocean, it rapes each wave onto the root-llano, the flower of death.
Kneels, the dark mossy rain, it was finding your bones. The upbringing of a stranger not myself.
How I stir from the comeuppance of a dream, or is it the hand that digs the flower’s thorax and ribwort leaf into my side? Give me the thorn instead, and I’ll stab it in my ribs just to feel something.
© 2020 lucysworks.com All Rights Reserved.
Written for the dVerse prompt: Write a piece of prose (fiction, nonfiction, or creative nonfiction) that is 144 words or less in length, and includes the line “Reading what I have just written, I now believe”.
Categories: Prose
“Woah, this is heavy!”
-Marty McFly
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‘Tis true.
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That last sentence is disturbing! Yeeeeow!
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Hahaha, thanks! That was not my intention initially. I wanted to showcase feelings of nothingness versus wanting to finally feel something. Thank you so much for your feedback, Lillian.
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This is excellent!
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Thanks, Bob!
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No, when we are dead we won’t remember a thing, but sticking a thorn in the flesh will at least leave a short memory.
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I believe that too. Just as most of us cannot recall a past life, it’s still intriguing to wonder.
Thank you so much for your feedback, Jane. It’s much appreciated. ❤
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🙂
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This has dark undertones , very clever write
Happy Monday
Much❤love
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Thank you, Gillena. ❤ ❤
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There is something raw and tortured in this writing which stings like that thorn at the end. Your dream sounds quite nightmarish and tormented.
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Thank you, Ingrid! Luckily, this was not my dream.
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A wonderful imaginative piece then!
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Love this especially; “The tree itself will live far longer than I. It is lovelorn, it is the red pine that falls like clockwork.” Your writing is mesmerizing as always! swoon 💝💝
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Thank you, Sanaa. You are so sweet and kind.
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Indeed… being numb in a void is so much worse than the pain of a thorn… really well written.
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Oh, you summed it up better than I could have. That is the whole essence of this poem. Thank you so, so much.
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Damn, Lucy, your prose titillates, torments, and amazes just much like your poetry. I get all Zen about death. I’d like to believe the soul remembers every word and every moment of their past life during the “life review”.
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Oh, Glenn, this is quite the compliment! Thank you so much.
“I’d like to believe the soul remembers every word and every moment of their past life during the “life review”.”
I must ask: Have you ever read “Many Lives, Many Masters” by Dr. Brian Weiss. The life review is a concept he goes over after the soul leaves the body, and there are different “planes” we cross to depending on what we have learned in each life we cycle. It’s very philosophical.
I’d like to believe that we remember everything during then as well; I feel it makes it more worthwhile, the ability to recall.
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Great work Lucy! The ocean way washes all of that which was us away!! Your last lines remind me of the Johnny Cash song, Hurt!
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Ooh, I can see that! Thank you so much, Dwight. 🙂
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You are welcome!
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A Catholic girl can never escape the Church and its “sacrifice”. Very Dark and very cool Lucy!
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That’s a really intriguing interpretation! Thank you so much for reading my work. 🙂
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You are welcome, I look forward always to your work.
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❤ ❤
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It must be sad and scary not to feel–and so much so that pain is welcomed.
I always get little movies in my head from your poems. This one was a Catherine from Wuthering Heights sort of scene on the moors. 🤣 I’m imagining ghosts, too.
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I think it’s sad and scary too, but mostly sad when you welcome pain to finally feel something that stirs you.
Oh wow, really? That is so awesome! 😄
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😀 I think I have to make narratives of everything in my mind. Even in my test-writing, I imagine a whole backstory/scene.
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Killer writing, Lucy. This piece elicits all kids of feelings. Well done!
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Thank you, Susan. ❤ ❤
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Stepping off nicely from the given prompt, and building beautifully all the way to that FANTABULISTIC closing sentence, Lucy, this piece R.O.C.K.S!!
I bow before thee.
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Aww, thank you so very much! 😀
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I don’t know. I’ve been in such pain before I think it burnt my nerve ending. I find that not feeling is preferable. But, then again, someone like me can’t be a proper judge, maybe.
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That is entirely understandable. It is, after all, subjective. 🙂
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great questions Lucy … I think we are reborn but are too confused to remember. I am hoping with training we can/will recall.
And that numb not knowing is real progress … hope you are not self-harming.
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Thank you so much, Kate.
No, I do not self-harm. Most of the poems I write, they are never from my perspective. The “narrator” changes, so it’s more of the poem having its own identity. I get ideas, thoughts, on what to write and I do put something of my own here and there. Usually when I do, I explain in an author’s note; but even as a “poetess of darkness”, I am actually quite happy and well. 😀
I hope that clears everything up, but I thank you for the concern.
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grateful to know that Lucy as whenever I read your work I have wondered … you certainly know how to unleash the dark side 🙂
that probably helps!
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Your blog is amazing 🙂
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Thank you. 😊
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Comeuppance is a nice word. Lucy still works hard 😀
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Aww, thank you. 😊
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Welcome!
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Great post!😁💖
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Thank you! Glad you liked the prose. ❤️❤️
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Your welcome!😁
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I plan to stay here on the earth as a ghost, not to see what happens after I’m gone, but to keep watch over my loved ones. Sadly, I have forgotten a lot of what I have written over the past six years, and often go back to look for a poem or a story to rework, and I don’t recognise them! I love the second paragraph about the lovelorn tree and the ‘fossils and skull-caps of the ocean’. I have never dreamt about digging up someone else’s or even my own bones, but I do remember my emotions being so numb I needed to hurt myself just to feel something. A brooding piece, Lucy.
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Thank you, Kim. I’m sorry to hear that you’ve been through that. ❤️❤️ Hugs.
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The elements will tell the story. But we will mingle with them. (K)
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So true!
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Reblogged this on The Reluctant Poet.
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Thank you so much. 💕
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Always happy to read and share you posts!
xoxox
😘💕🌹
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❤ ❤
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This is very deep made me think.
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Thank you! I’m really happy to hear that.
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How awful to need to inflict pain just to feel something. This was very dark and disturbing (and brilliantly written)
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Thank you so much, Dale. I’m glad you can see how I intended it. I feel so bad for those who go through and experience that.
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Yes. Heartbreaking stuff.
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Beautiful, transcendent verse that takes one to a more ethereal plane.
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Thank you so much, Phil. 🙂
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Beautifully written, Lucy. A thorn in the side lets you know you can feel.
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Thank you. I think the same. 🙂
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