Phrase Prompt, Poetry, Theme Prompt, Writing Challenge, Writing Prompts

What Remains

Nancy's Notes 🖊️♬

Written for Reena’s Xploration Challenge.
Reena asks us to respond by using her
prompt lines or going with our own take.

Image by Me & ChatGPT

We speak, and then the speaking’s gone….
but something stays behind, unspun,
a shape the silence wears like skin:
the echo that lingers longer than the voice.

The room forgets the words we chose.
The walls remember how they rose.
Not what was said, but how it felt….
that echo, lingering longer than the voice.

So when I’m quiet, love, don’t fear.
I’m only fading out of ear,
not out of reach, not off the shelf….
just echo now, lingering longer than the voice.

NAR©2026

This is “Echoes of Love” by Jesse & Joy

Reena’s Xploration Challenge #448

Everything on The Elephant’s Trunk was created by me, unless otherwise indicated, and may not be used without permission. Thanks for your consideration. NAR©2017-present.



26 thoughts on “What Remains”

  1. Pingback: Reena’s Xploration Challenge #449 – Creative Experiments and More

  4. ‘Not what was said, but how it felt… that echo, lingering longer than the voice.’—what a breathtaking, gentle truth, Nancy! 🤍 Being able to rest quietly in someone’s presence without needing to fill the air with words is such a sacred, beautiful kind of love. Stunning poem!

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  7. If the walls could talk and relay all the echoes that are heard my dear friend …

    If Only the Walls Could Talk

    It’s true you know,
    Walls can talk.
    So, I’ve been told,
    By a beautiful Rose.
    You’ll have to listen,
    Listen very closely.
    Put your ear against the wall.
    Use a stethoscope if you must.
    Listen to the wooden heart,
    Standing proud and tall.
    A rough soul rendered smooth,
    Layers of paint, every hue.
    Covering up dusty memories,
    Of hearts lost, through years of cavities.
    Like the old Wailing Wall,
    You’re walking along a history hall.
    Your secrets, one and all,
    They’ve heard every gasp.
    Your children’s moans,
    And your lover’s groans.

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