EKPHRASIS…

THE LETTER

 

It was there on the table waiting for him. The letter. Words written down. Finally. This after years and years of mental word choices, sentence construction. What to say? The Son was having health issues. Was it a genetic disorder. Inherited condition. When to write? Answers needed now. Important and imperative information needed. Needed now. How? Words chosen. Concise and to the point. Nothing else needed. Information only. Written and then posted.

Now the waiting.

Special Delivery. Signature required. His signature. Personal. Private. Addressed to him.

She took the stairs down to the front door to answer the bell. He was upstairs. Busy. Doing something. She opened the door and the Postman handed her the letter marked Special Delivery. Signature required. Addressed to him. Personal.

Should I sign? she asked, It’s for you.  Yes, please, from the Union? he asked.

No, a letter, her reply. For you marked personal.

Open it he said. What does it say?

The envelope is opened and she reads.

With the opened letter in her hand she climbed the stairs and laid the letter down.

What does it say? he asked again. She looked not at him but at the letter.

It sounds as if the person who wrote this letter is very closely related to you. Closely. Related. After forty years of marriage is there something you’d like to tell me?

She waited, too…

 

 

 

23 thoughts on “EKPHRASIS…”

    1. If I didn’t know better, M., one might think you were stalking me….much in the same way that I stalk you! Your recent post resonated as you could tell…my short, to the point comment. You eloquently put down on paper images and words that gently bend my soul…exactly…in better directions.
      Ro

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  3. Disturbing, but always good when the truth comes out, even if it takes forty years. That’s at least how I think. Apart for that, I think it’s a poem you have written both in words and water colours. Talks to the heart about how it is to be human, because we all have some secret from the past that could reappear. Furthermore, I like Linda’s idea about a second, even a diptych. Something to think about?

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    1. Otto, As usual from you…food for thought. Also…always inspiring from you to Just. Keep. Going.
      Hoping you are well, safe and keeping peace within. Creativity, I’m finding, comes and goes. Small caressing breezes to upending surges of eclectic ideas. With you in my thoughts. Raye

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    1. Tony, apologies. For some reason your comment landed in the SPAM box. Seems you might be followed (even on WordPress) by Lurking WH Loonies? Let’s hope not! Thank you for showing up and “continuing” to continue here. Looking forward to another week of what seems to be days of Sundays…R.

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  6. Raye, nicely played. I love the anticipation. This may not have been your intent, but I flashed back to the climatic scene of “Summer of 42” when the lovely women who the young teen adores gets a note that her husband was killed in action. Not a word was spoken. Her anguish and need for human touch and kindness was riveting. Keith

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    1. Looks as if I’m going to have to watch “Summer of 42” again…it’s been a long time since first viewed. I think I’ll thank you now for the intended comparison. Stay well. Stay home. Stay healthy. Raye

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    1. We all wait…for better times, for less chaotic times, for less fear and uncertainty. Thank you as always for your comment. In answer to both your questions: Second time around? Hmmmm…
      Diptych? Well now! That’s a thought…mulling over. Be well and be home! Raye

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  8. Gigi; you challenge me seriously – this is an invented word…. invented by you?! How can I comment if I don’t even understand the title? 😉
    What I can say is: I really, really like that watercolour – it’s like a gouache by a French or Italian impressionist.

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    1. No, no EKPHRASIS a real word! It is the adjective form of EKPHRASTIC which pertains to a certain descriptive form of poetry writing . EKPHRASIS is a rhetorical exercise of vivid, often dramatic verbal (written) description of a visual work of ART. It can be (the written) real or imagined. Perhaps non-fiction versa fiction…piece of ART thrown in to enhance. See? Thank you always, Kiki for stopping by! Oh…Switzerland then London holiday off the table now. We’ll have to meet up 2021! Raye

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      1. We just had our UK hols cancelled and lost all our already paid money for Eurotunnel, and hotel accommodation on our way to and from…. but hey – we’re alive, well and kicking!
        I looked for a translation on leo.com which is a very fine translator for everything in G and another language. I use it most often to FIND a German word I only still know in F or E…. sad, eh? She’s forgetting her mother tongue (which is, btw, not German, but SWISS GERMAN – one day I’ll try you to find out what I’m saying in Swiss German—- even knowing German won’t help you!)

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        1. Kiki, Relatives in Meiringen speak Schweizerdeutch but also a dialect from their village/area. I use Google Translate to write them in German because they learn to read and write German in school. It gets very complicated…but in a good way! I’m so sorry about your hols being cancelled. I have yet to cancel my flight arrangements. Waiting for United to make the first move or otherwise, I think, I’ll lose a wadge of money…like you. Stay safe. Looking forward to traveling in 2021….

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          1. Raye, I can’t believe my eyes…. MY father and hence we too came originally from Meiringen!!!!!! How’s about that! And yes, it is exactly as you describe it – their ANKE is the Zürcher’s BUTTER….
            It’s not about losing the money although that hurts too. It’s about losing all the promised and organised visits. And we have a friend with terminal cancer who promised to hold on until we’d come and see him…. Now he has to be strong until sometime next year! And so many more issues, here and there. Friends have postponed THEIR plans in order to be present when we’d come, gatherings have been planned, a choral weekend has been booked and paid for.
            Just don’t try to make Eurotunnel pay you back for a trip you can’t make…. You’re just losing your time; the money is lost anyway. I wish you luck with United but don’t count on it.

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  9. This may be an ekphratic piece but it is also enigmatic and cryptic… you leave us hanging and wanting more.
    Beautiful image to go with your story.

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