Music Blog, Short Story

The Final Threshold

Nancy's Notes 🖊️🎶

Written for Violet’s Challenge where she has asked
 us to include the following phrase into our writings;
 “To the well-organized mind, death is but the next
great adventure”. Also for Jim’s Song Lyric Sunday
where the challenge is to write about a song that
mentions river/stream/creek/brook. This is my story.

Image by Me & Copilot

The old cartographer sat at her desk, surrounded by a lifetime of maps. Each one charted territories she’d explored …. jungles, deserts, mountain ranges that touched the sky. Now, at ninety-three, her hands trembled as she spread a blank parchment before her.

“What are you mapping, Gigi?” her great-granddaughter asked.

The woman smiled, dipping her quill in ink. “The undiscovered country, my dear.”

She began sketching: winding rivers of memory, forests of forgotten dreams, coastlines where the known met the unknowable. Her great-granddaughter watched, confused but captivated.

“Are you afraid of the unknown?” the girl whispered.

The cartographer paused, studying her work. “To the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure.” She added one final detail …. a compass pointing toward an unmapped horizon. “And I’ve always loved a good map.”

That night she set sail beyond the final threshold.


NAR©2025

This is “Boat On The River” by Styx

Whilst Underwater
Naturally Flowing Water

All text and graphics are copyright for Nancy Richy and are not to be used without permission. NAR©2017-present.

36 thoughts on “The Final Threshold”

  12. Nancy! What a wonderful surprise! I am so glad you found inspiration in my literary quote of the week- and incorporated it into your SLS?! Quite a treat for me.

    This is a great little-known song and so deserving of a spotlight here this morning. I so enjoyed this post for so many reasons.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Thank you so much, Jodi! Your comments have made me very happy. Perhaps I should have given a little information about the song and the artist, but I didn’t want to take up too much time or space on your page. If I participate again, I’ll try to squeeze some information in. Thanks again. I appreciate you and the thoughts you shared.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

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