Here is this week’s entry into the weekly challenge brought to us by the lovely Rochelle Wisoff-Fields. Here are the rules: Use the photo as inspiration, write a hundred(ish) words – and share! Here goes my offering for this week – and I welcome your comments again!
Copyright – Douglas M. MacIlroy
– Forever Yours –
“It’s OK, sweethearts. I’m OK.”
I stood, an observer unobserved, watching the procession pass only an arm’s length away, unreachable now.
I reflected on the past weeks. The journeys to and from the hospital, the incessant beep-beep-beep of the monitors, the silent-footed nurses.
I smiled, remembering the whispered words of love, the touch of gentle hands on arms, the kisses on unresponsive cheeks, the vigils far into night after night after night.
All along, they loved me. Their love was returned, a thousand fold.
“I am not gone, I am always with you.”
Our bodies are but the temporary shell. Our spirits are what remain.
____
Freya Writes... 
Lovely Freya. So true for all of us. It is our spirit that is so important.
Thank you! It doesn’t stop us missing the outer shells that have gone though, does it?
Very nice, Freya. Heartfelt and poignant.
Thank you, Jan.
Beautiful and poignant!
Thank you…
I feel like this should be sad, but isn’t. It’s lovely and hopeful instead.
I’m glad you took hope away from this – that’s partly what I wanted to deliver.
It would be nice to think it was like this. Well done.
Thank you, Sandra. We won’t know what’s waiting for us until we are there…
I liked it. 🙂
Good! I’m glad 😉
You showed the realization of love even to (and after) the point of death. Beautifully done, Freya.
One little, nit-picky grammar nazi thing…”Our bodies are but the temporary shell”….”bodies” is plural, so you need “shells” to be plural, too. 🙂
janet
Thank you, Janet.
I’m still considering the grammar point. I tried ‘shells’ and changed my mind… It may be grammatically correct, but I wrote it with a particular person in mind, who was a bit of a radical. So I think I’ll leave it as it is 🙂
Beautifully stated.
Thank you so much. This piece was important to me, for many reasons.
It showed, and whatever the importance, you paid it tribute well with this =)
Thank you. 🙂
Beautiful and so true. Thank youfor sharing. Something I wrote a few years ago. http://erinleary.wordpress.com/2011/09/23/puffy-clouds/
Thank you, Erin. You’re welcome. I find writing cathartic, and comforting. I’ll take a look at your piece right now.
Dear Freya,
It seems this comes from a deep place. Lovely piece of writing. Wistful yet hopeful.
shalom,
Rochelle
It does indeed – wistful yet hopeful is exactly how i felt.
This was beautiful.
Thank you, Dawn. It honours a person close to my heart.
“I am not gone, I am always with you.”
what we hold dear is always with us… good tale
Thank you. Yes, those we love never leave our hearts.
Very insightful and emotional. Lovely.
Yes, there was a lot of emotion in my heart when I wrote it.
You’ve opened a window into the great beyond, leaving behind a scene much too familiar.
Thank you, patti. I know, I could do without this kind of familiarity, but writing helps me manage the feelings, or at least get them out of my head for a while.
What a gift writing is!
Indeed, it certainly is.