Short Prose

Never The Same

Nancy's Notes đŸ–ŠïžđŸŽ¶

Our host Björn at dVerse Poets has asked us to write
no more than 144 words, incorporating the highlighted line
from Tomas Tranströmer’s poem â€œAfter Someone’s Death.”

The night of my husband’s funeral was the loneliest point in my life. After everyone went home, I was totally alone in the house I shared with Ned for 12 years. I don’t ever remember the house being so cold and quiet. Moonlight engulfed our bedroom yet emptiness was all around. I sat on Ned’s side of the bed and ran my hands over his pillow. It was shockingly cold and my mind drifted back to this morning in Arlington. Row upon row of neat marble headstones, Ned’s fallen brothers in arms, all the names swallowed up by the cold. Hugging his pillow tightly, I cried for the first time in three days. There was a gaping hole in my heart, in my life, and I knew I would never be the same. I don’t ever remember the house being so cold and quiet.

NAR©2024
144 Words

Prosery – Tomas Tranströmer

This is “Brothers In Arms” by Dire Straits

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46 thoughts on “Never The Same”

  2. Nancy, on my way to meet my son this afternoon, I drove by the Veteran’s Cemetery in Grand Rapids, which is visible from the highway. Your story reminded me of it. So many crosses, each one a soldier. For a wife to give over her husband’s warm body in the bed to a cold grave filled with crosses has got to be the coldest and most lonely feeling in the world. Beautiful story, very sensitively told ❀

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  5. A heart touching story, beautifully written in just 144 words! à€¶à€Ÿà€Źà€Ÿà€¶, à€šà„ˆà€‚à€žà„€ 👏👏

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