Look away, my love. Remember it as it was. Listen to the birdsong swelling in a clear blue sky, hear the insects hum, feel the joy of the new lambs dancing in our fresh green fields.
Fix it in your mind. Our little farmhouse with its pretty garden. Smell the lavender you planted by the door, feel the cool breeze on your skin as it flutters the flower-sprigged curtains which you made last summer.
Let us go now, my love. Don’t look back. Let us leave this black and broken land and find a place where we can start anew.
Written in response to a prompt from Susan T. Braithwaite
Genre Scribes Friday Fiction Writing Challenge #28
The challenge this week was damage.
luna's on line 
I don’t know what happened, but your description of what was lost is heartbreaking. Can they really move on without looking back? That’s a hard task.
-Nice one Chris-
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Thanks Darnell 🙂 My mind was drawn to the terrible bush fires in Australia we’re seeing on the news. I was aiming to drop a positive note in all the tragedy, but, as you say, to move on without looking back is a hard task.
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This is a very touching piece.
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Thanks, Sadje
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You’re welcome Chris. ♥️
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Beautiful and heartwrenching at the same time. I am very moved by this.
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Thanks, Shayleene 🙂
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This is very powerful, Chris. It made me instantly think of Australia at the moment. I love the feeling of hope that underlies the pain of the narrator. Great writing! (Thanks for taking part, again!)
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Thanks, Susan. I’m pleased you got that out of the piece. I didn’t want it to be too despairing.
Once again, only a pleasure to participate 🙂
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[…] huge shout out to Violet, Gordon, and Chris for taking part again with their brilliant responses to last week’s […]
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Excellent take. All to familiar of the years I lived in California. We lost like 1100 houses I believe in 2017 in Santa Rosa. Fortunately none of them mine, but the devastation was epic. Stay safe and wear your mask!
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Thanks, Violet. I think I remember seeing that on TV. Our recent bad year was 2018 when there was a big fire on the mountain near us. Properties and farms destroyed, but they got the people and pets out. Many wild creatures were not so fortunate. Ash was still falling out of the sky for months.
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All i feel in this poem is hope for a better future.
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Where there is love, there is power. Very poignant piece.
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