As a child, you never considered the end. The hours were too long, full of half-glimpsed butterflies and doll tea parties and Kia-ora at the cinema.
Even later, life bulged: student bars serving cheap Guinness, back-combed hair β soft bristles against your cheek.
Then the family tree began to change shape β a prune here, another there, until it looked different. A pollarded oak.
Soon each morning began the same: a battle to quell the notion that an unexplained lump, a tickle in the throat β a cough β could speed your Β end.Β No one lives forever β until now, surely. You will be the exception, the miracle that proves the rule.
Still, one golden dusk, He comes for you.
Slips a kind, bony hand in yours.
You fight but not for long β your bodyβs weak, tired out by a lifetime chasing butterflies.
Finally, youβve learned lifeβs most importantΒ lesson.
***
With thanks to My Loving Wife at A Word Adventure for herΒ Tuesday Use It In A Sentence.
Today’s word is QUELL.
Pop along to A Word Adventure for full rules and to join in.
So true…
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Yep. Maybe I’ll get my head round it one day. Or maybe I’ll be the exception π
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Wow, all that from one little word! That was great, Lynn. Especially the images of bristles on the cheek and the kind, bony hand. With just a couple of short, well-placed phrases, the imagery blossoms. Great post. A lifetime in a few dozen words.
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Thank you, Walt! I’m trying to work on producing fewer words and more ‘right’ ones. I know that should be obvious, but there have been times I’ve just thrown words at the screen and seen what sticks. Cutting back means making better choices – something I sorely need to learn. Thank you again – it means a lot coming fromsomeone who writes so well π
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Well, you made some great choices up above. My writing improved dramatically (if I may say so myself) when I started writing on WordPress. I learned a lot about editing and word choice as I held myself to word counts. It seems the sweet spot for blog readers is between 400-800 words, give or take, and figuring out how to say what I want to say within those constraints has made me a better writer. Seems to be working for you too!
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I think you’re right about the word count – approaching 1,000 words is too much for most people to stick with. I think I am improving so far as brevity is concerned – as you say, practice helps! If I could just pin down structure now … π
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Lovely. Funny what one word can evoke, convey and bring out of you. Thank you for participating and thank you for a great contribution π .
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It was a pleasure – great fun to take part in π
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But you already showed you can with your love nudge thingy.
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I’ve got a long, long way to go, btu thank you π
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“A beautiful write on the cycle of life. Nothing, yet, can quell death it seems,” she said with a smile.
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Unfortunately true. Thank you so much for reading π
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Nicely done. π
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Thank you Linda π
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Kia-ora at the cinema! I remember that.
Ageing is a funny thing – when you look back at life, you remember the days when childhood was going to last forever. You looked at nineteen-year olds and felt sorry for them, sure that your adulthood was a lifetime away, and then the clock starts ticking a little faster, and faster again, and suddenly you’re getting old, but you can’t pinpoint the moment when you grew up.
I love this post…
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Kia-ora and Raisin Poppets for me! Ah, Jane you’re so right – I remember being almost surprised when I was a kid, rembering I wasn’t an adult yet, when what was going on in my head felt so grown up! What age can you judge yourself as grown up? 18? 21? 30? When you have a child? When both your parents have died? My step mother told me she still felt 23 on the inside, even though she’d reached her 40s by then – I know what that feels like now π
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