SusanWritesPrecise

Among the Hazelwood

It’s Prosery Monday over at the dVerse Poets Pub. This week, our prompt comes from a Yeats poem, The Song of the Wandering Aengus: I went out to the hazel wood,
Because a fire was in my head’.
144 words.

It was a day like any other. Nothing special or noteworthy aside from it was the day you left. I looked everywhere I thought you might be and eventually even places I knew you’d never go.

Were you kidnapped? Amnesia? Tired of me and wanted a new life? Perhaps you’d met someone new.

You should’ve said goodbye unless you didn’t know you were going.

Two days passed. I went out to the hazelwood because a fire was in my head; memories burning.

Remember when our love was new, we’d walk amongst the trees and talk about our future? Suddenly, I knew if you were anywhere, it was among the hazelwood. And there it was: the very tree in which you’d carved our initials.

A balmy breeze shimmered the leaves on the hazel branches and gently ruffled your hair as your lifeless body hung, swaying.

17 responses to “Among the Hazelwood”

  1. Dang. Evocative and creepy.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thank you, Chelle! That’s exactly what I was after. :-)

      Liked by 1 person

  2. OH NO … chills, chills and more chills right now. Epic prose!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thank you much, Helen. :-)

      Like

  3. Thank you so much, Helen. Glad you enjoyed!

    Like

  4. The dark ending caught me off guard, and the pain of the narrator’s discovery — that last descriptive touch of the wind “gently ruffled your hair” — is terribly sad. Wonderful prosery.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thank you very much, Dora. :-)

      Liked by 2 people

  5. Oh … such a very tragic ending… we both went to find death in the copse of hazelwood…

    Like

  6. sanaarizvi Avatar
    sanaarizvi

    This is incredibly dark and resonant. Sometimes the decisions we make in life fail to coincide with those that fate has in store for us. I have learned that the hard way ❤️

    Like

  7. wow what an ending. the line does lead us down the lane to such places

    Like

  8. Oh, my goodness, Susan, you went dark with this one, and you kept your reader on tenterhooks until the tragic ending! I love the calmness of the narrator all the way through, which caused the hairs on my arms to stand on end when I read the final line, especially the way the balmy breeze gently ruffled the hair of the lifeless body.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thanks, Kim. So glad you enjoyed. I must admit that I am comfy on the dark side. :-)

      Liked by 2 people

  9. Wow! A great story with a sad and compelling ending!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. So glad youn enjoyed! Thanks for stopping by.

      Liked by 2 people

      1. You are welcome

        Liked by 1 person

  10. Oh no! How tragic (and chilling)! The wind ruffled hair is such a fine touch.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thanks, Merril. It just sort of came to me, like the next logical thing to happen. Idk.

      Liked by 2 people

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