Tag: Love

Colleen’s 2020 Weekly #Tanka Tuesday #Poetry Challenge No. 164 #SynonymsOnly

Love & Harmony were the prompt words this week.

For love I went for lust and passion! For harmony I chose balance and peacefully.

What are Haiku, Senryu and Tanka?

Remember: Senryu poems make the human, not the world around them, the subject of their creative endeavor. Humor and sarcasm are two of the most favorable elements in a Senryu and should deal with the human condition. Think about sexual matters, family relations, religion, politics, and anything that touches on the pain we experience through sorrow, prejudice, oppression, anger, and frustration. Senryu do not deal in sentimentality.

 

I haven’t written any Senryu before so here goes… I’ve written three…

 

Lusty lips

Pouted

The Viagra

Swallowed

Peacefully

Downed in one

 

His lust overwhelmed

He was so fit

Did the splits

Balanced on one leg

 

Our mismatched passion

Made me quiet

Depleted

My balance

Broken

 

Colleen’s 2020 Weekly #Tanka Tuesday #Poetry Challenge No. 164 #SynonymsOnly

 

Well, that was a strange one! The Senryu encouraged me to play with words to come up with some unusual results!

 

 

Buy Book: myBook.to/TheCurseofTime

 

Preorder link: Mr. Sagittarius (kindle)

Colleen’s Weekly Tanka Poetry Challenge no. 71 Character and Affection

My Tanka is Valentine inspired today. I’ve used devotion for affection and for character I chose mould.

My hubby and I are both creative souls, he loves music so, so much! And of course, I love writing… We met many moons ago. Two many moons to tell you! We began our lives as tender, teenage sweethearts and are still going strong.  Perhaps it is this creativity and passion within us that is our rock. There is room for a huge amount of love in a relationship, for each other and of course for the things that rock our lives – music and writing! Perhaps, one day we will be able to write and play music full-time, now that would be wonderful.

bonnie & Carole

To join in with Colleen’s challenge follow the link:

https://colleenchesebro.com/2018/02/13/colleens-weekly-tanka-tuesday-poetry-challenge-no-71-character-affection-snyonymsonly/

Happy Valentine’s Day!

bitmoji923642549

85978B3EEB2A2F45468E6707CEAFE70D

RonovanWrites #Weekly #Haiku #Poetry Prompt #Challenge #136 Eye&Fade

 

 

untitled

I’m in the mood for poetry today! Started off writing two Tanka poems for Colleen’s Tanka Tuesday and then realised I hadn’t done anything for Valentine’s.  To remedy this faux pas I decided to take a gander at Ronovan’s prompt words this week hoping they were a little valentine related and sure enough Eye and Fade were perfect, so I wrote this haiku…

 

xoxo

 

To join in with Ronovan’s Haiku Challenge follow the link: Ronovan Writes Haiku Challenge

 

Happy Valentines!!!

bitmoji923642549

Much love,

http___signatures-mylivesignature-com_54494_373_07053e7d9657cc81851243011100e58f

Ronovan Writes Haiku Challenge: Magic And Stars

untitled

It has been an age since I have written any haiku. Sigh!

Recently  Denis at haiku hound commented on one of my posts, but added – where are your haiku? Good point Denis – his comment prompted me to write this post! Thanks so much for the encouragement. 🙂

Denis is a keen haiku poet, photographer and also has some stunning afghan hounds – do check out his blog:  Haiku Hound – Afghan Hounds

I have really missed joining in with Ronovan’s weekly challenge. Unfortunately I have just been so busy job hunting, editing my manuscript, etc, etc.

Good news – I now have a new job… More about that soon. It’s a bit of a secret. Kyrosmagica likes secrets but all will be revealed soon. But one things for certain I doubt that you will guess what my new job is, as it is quite unusual.

This weeks prompt really caught my attention… Magic and stars. Kyrosmagica is all about the magical moments in life whether it’s simply reading a book, walking and observing the beauty all around us or engaging in creative endeavours. Kyrosmagica also tries to reflect on the deeper aspects of life – you can’t have light without a touch of darkness… But today, I’m feeling lighthearted so let’s celebrate love with Ronovan’s beautiful prompt words magic and stars!

My haiku is inspired by my recent visit to Tavira, in the Portugese Algarve. To find out more about Tavira do visit this excellent website: Tavira Uncovered. In this quaint town there is a bridge dedicated to love! All along the bridge padlocks are attached, with the names of partners, husbands, wives, and lovers!

This particularly bright pink padlock caught my eye. I do hope that Stefan and Claudia are still together!

wp_20160905_14_54_31_pro

Magical Fireworks Explode

Stars twinkle brightly,

Magical fireworks explode,

When I’m near to you.

 

Stars padlocked our love,

In magical Tavira,

Love you forever.

 

The key’s ours alone,

No one else can break the bond,

Magic star of love.

 

This bridge links our love,

A magical star glistens,

On this pink full heart.

 

© Marjorie Mallon 2016 – aka, Kyrosmagica. All Rights Reserved.

Tavira is such a lovely quaint place to visit, with an oldie world charm, so with that in mind here are some of my photos to tempt you:

Two views from either side of the lovers!!! bridge ….

wp_20160905_14_53_19_pro

 

wp_20160905_15_04_36_pro

 My daughter looking tiny amongst the quaint old buildings!
wp_20160905_14_55_55_pro

There are some lovely churches in Tavira:

wp_20160905_15_01_30_pro

Of course when love hits the mark it’s truly magical, and so is Tavira. If you’d like to see my other Portugal post do visit here: Portugal Missing You

I hope you liked my haiku. Do join in with Ronovan’s challenge.

Here’s the link to find out more: Ronovan Writes Haiku Challenge – Magic and Stars

Oh and see if you can guess what my new job is…

Bye for now, much love. Happy Sunday!

untitled

 

85978B3EEB2A2F45468E6707CEAFE70D

 

Writespiration#99: Burnt Edges – Suicide Burns

 

burnt edges

I’m glad I came across this prompt via Sacha Black for her  Flash Writespiration – Burnt Edges, I was looking for a writing stimulus for a competition I’m thinking of entering and burnt edges was it. I read a very sad blog post on Cybele’s blog – In Memory of Her Beloved Brother  a very personal and moving tribute which got me reflecting on the preciousness of life, and this developed into a theme for my piece of flash fiction: Suicide. I have heard some shocking stories via family members and in the wider community that really got me thinking.. about the terrible suffering of family and friends of suicide victims.

Sometimes there’s a happy outcome when suicides are prevented but sadly this is not always the case. Sometimes dreadful injuries are sustained by the person attempting suicide which have a long term effect on the person’s future quality of life and/or underlying depression can still remain unchecked waiting to rear its head once again.

If only we could prevent more suicides from happening. Young people are so vulnerable. If only that were possible.

While I’m on this terribly sad topic I thought I’d mention that I read Me Before You by Jojo Moyes fairly recently.

Here’s the synopsis:

Lou Clark knows lots of things. She knows how many footsteps there are between the bus stop and home. She knows she likes working in The Buttered Bun tea shop and she knows she might not love her boyfriend Patrick.

What Lou doesn’t know is she’s about to lose her job or that knowing what’s coming is what keeps her sane.

Will Traynor knows his motorcycle accident took away his desire to live. He knows everything feels very small and rather joyless now and he knows exactly how he’s going to put a stop to that.

What Will doesn’t know is that Lou is about to burst into his world in a riot of colour. And neither of them knows they’re going to change the other for all time.

Here’s the link to my review: Review of Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

Lines can become blurred.  Assisted suicide is such an emotive topic – people tend to have very differing, and deeply felt viewpoints both for and against.  So my piece of creative writing flash fiction is exploring some of these thoughts in a very concise way – only 200 words, to consider what a person would or wouldn’t do to ease a loved one’s daily pain and suffering, when they are suffering from an incurable disease that has stripped them of all dignity, or perhaps have had a life changing horrendous accident, that has left them with constant pain and no quality of life. What cost would that be to the individual who assists their loved one to die? Guilt would always play a part in that decision.. and guilt can be a bit like a jailer..

Here’s my piece of flash, which I have entitled Suicide Burns. The far reaching effects of suicide are like a fire engulfing all in sadness who come near.

Suicide Burns

We all have burnt edges in our lives but mine exist as a form of evidence, a folded piece of paper scarred by a torched flame of memories. The suicide note had intentional burnt edges around the colourless paper creating a waving motion, a final goodbye. She’d wanted me to remember those precious smoke filled memories spent together, before her debilitating cruel illness burnt joy to dust. The note cast a warming glow each time I opened it. I smelt the aroma of logs, her sweet perfume rekindling long lost memories of our passionate love making, the embers of the open fire caressing our naked, youthful bodies.

After her suicide, I placed the folded note next to my heart. For days it remained untouched until I unfolded it’s sad, weary edges. How I longed to hear her thoughts, to say one last farewell, but her silent note told of the pills that I’d stockpiled. The note was no longer in my breast pocket. It was evidence of my confession: loving her too much. Her ghost danced alone, a pain free sparkle of brilliant illuminating light. The prison door claimed my guilt, a small price to pay, my sweet dearest love.

I’d recommend the following site if you are experiencing mental health issues or are feeling alone, lost or suicidal: https://www.betterhelp.com/advice/therapy/how-do-i-find-a-therapist-near-me/

© Marjorie Mallon 2016 – aka, Kyrosmagica. All Rights Reserved.

Please pop over to Sacha’s blog for details how to take part in her Writespiration: Sacha Black’s Writespiration 90: Burnt Edges

Until the next time.. please do feel free to comment…

4319880-121729743_4-v1

Marje @ Kyrosmagica xx

My fun (totally not serious but nevertheless 90% true,) author bio on Wattpad – Link below.

Marjorie Mallon was born in Lion City: Singapore. She grew up in a mountainous court in Hong Kong. Her crazy parents dragged her  spotty soul away from her exotic childhood and her much loved dog Topsy to the frozen wastelands of Scotland. There she mastered Scottish country dancing, haggis bashing, bagpipe playing and a whole new Och Aye lingo. 
As a teenager she travelled to many far flung destinations to visit her abacus wielding wayfarer dad. On one such occasion a  barracuda swam by. It stopped to view her  bikini clad body, longing to take a big bite. With dogs' fangs replacing barracudas' teeth, she returned to her mother's birthplace: Kuching, Cat City. There, Blackie, a black-hearted dog sniffed her frightened butt, whimpered and ran away! Shortly after this extraordinary event an angry female Orang-Utan chased her unfit ass out of the Malaysian jungle believing that she was a threat to her babies! She still monkeys about, would love to own a cat, or a replacement Topsy but refuses to entertain  murderous dogs, or over-protective monkeys.
It's rumoured that she lives in the Venice of Cambridge, with her six foot hunk of a Rock God husband, and her two enchanted daughters. 
After such an upbringing her author's mind has taken total leave of its senses. When she's not writing, she eats exotic delicacies while belly dancing, or surfs to the far reaches of the moon. To chill out she practises Tai Chi and Yoga on the crest of a wave. If the mood takes her she goes snorkelling with mermaids, or signs up for idyllic holidays with the Chinese Unicorn, whose magnificent voice sings like a thousand wind chimes. 

She is a child of the light and the dark. Her motto is simply this: Do what you love,  stay true to your heart's desires, remain young at heart, and  inspire others to do so, even if it appears that the odds are stacked like black hearted shadows against you...

 

My Links: 

Wattpad

Goodreads

Instagram

Twitter

Facebook

Tumblr

 

Hugh’s Weekly Photo Challenge week 13 Love

WP_20160214_001

What do I love? The answer lies in so many directions that I am almost staggered wondering what to post. I love my family, my hubby, my friends, writing, blogging, books, crying… wait a minute I said crying. What? I mean to say that I love books that stir the emotions, make me cry, get me reflecting….

I just finished one such book, boy did it make me cry, Me Before You By Jojo Moyes.

So I love all sorts of things. But one of my great loves is my old home town of Edinburgh. I just love visiting Edinburgh lapping up all that this great city has to offer.

If you’re a regular visitor to my blog you might have seen my posts about Edinburgh. So surprise surprise my photo this week is something I came across whilst in Edinburgh this half term. I found it in a place that I have many fond memories of. The photo was taken in The Botanic Gardens, right outside an art gallery. Yes, I’m kind of partial to them too…

I don’t know quite what it was about this particular statue that grabbed my attention, but whatever it was it gripped me. It might have been her tummy, I have one of those, I may be skinny but my tummy has always been a bit rounded. Or it might be the way she was twisting her arm behind her back in a yoga stretch. Perhaps that was it. Anyway the fact that I noticed her was saying something as on this trip I was busy spending time with family, oh and eating a lot. That is one of my other loves. I ate lots and lots of Asian food. My mum is a wonderful cook, so we had many tasty meals but as well as this we visited a particularly fine Malaysian restaurant in Glasgow called, Rumours Kopitiam. By the way kopitiam or kopi tiam is the word for a coffee shop in Southeast Asia. The  interior of this little restaurant wasn’t exactly flashy but the food was excellent and the lunch menu’s really good value for money.  Our waitress had a great sense of humour she asked my daughter if she liked chilli, she said yes, so she made sure that she was more than adequately supplied with lots of them! That’ll teach her….. The Singapore noodles were to die for. So if you are in Glasgow give Kopitiam a go.

On this week away I didn’t really do much in the way of blogging or Instagram. Or visit half of the places I had intended to. Which isn’t like me but all that eating, and chatting to family was taking up all of my time. This statue wasn’t having it she just begged me to photograph her, she pointed her belly at me accusingly and twisted my arm! What astonished me about it all was this. When I came back to Cambridge I did some research and found that she had just been moved back to this particular spot. I came back to Edinburgh Botanic Gardens and so did she…. A pair of kindred spirits. How sweet. She is Reg Butler’s cast bronze sculpture, entitled Girl. She is now to be seen outside Inverleith House, right beside the gallery of modern art.

More about her reappearance here:

http://www.rbge.org.uk/about-us/news/stories/butlers-girl-comes-home

So a bit of a meandering kind of love but there you have it. Hope Hugh approves. This is my entry for Hugh’s photography challenge this week.

http://hughsviewsandnews.com/2016/02/16/hughs-weekly-photo-challenge-week-13-love/

 

Hope you like my photo and my tale of my many loves: eating, reading, writing, art, statues, and spending time with family in my favourite Scottish city, Edinburgh. Sorry, Glasgow, I love you too!! Especially your Kopitiam….

 

unnamed

 

Marje @ Kyrosmagica xx

Ronovan Writes Haiku Prompt Challenge: Crystal and Hope

ronovan-writes-haiku-poertry-challenge-image-20161[1]

 

Well with a prompt like that from Ron there is just no way that I wouldn’t join in with the Haiku prompt challenge this week. Who could say no? Not me for sure.

Here’s a link to Ron’s blog if you’d like to join his weekly challenge:

https://ronovanwrites.wordpress.com/2016/01/11/ronovanwrites-weekly-haiku-poetry-prompt-challenge-79-crystalhope/

I just love Crystals, and they feature in my writing.

Hope and Crystals kind of go hand in hand don’t they?

But perhaps with light there is always a touch of darkness, so with my haiku I am going to focus on the idea of unrequited love.

We all have at some time in our lives experienced differing degrees of unrequited relationships. In my experience I remember one such case when I was very young, it wasn’t love,  it was a touch of infatuation.  I fancied this young chap, and to be honest I kind of made it pretty obvious that I liked him. We did go out on a date but it was no fun at all, he  just dumped me in the middle of the night in Edinburgh not caring how I got home or if I got home.  In his eyes I think it was a bit of a prank to play on me, he must have thought I had been chasing him and perhaps he didn’t even fancy me. Anyway it was very upsetting and the memory of it still remains with me to this day. But it did teach me one thing, anyone that behaves in such an uncaring and unpleasant way can’t be worthy of my attention let alone of a relationship with me. So this curly haired young chap did me a favour in a way, his behaviour made me a little more reticent perhaps in chasing after a boy. I never went out with curly haired boys ever again! Instead I chose dark haired guys with straight hair, played it cool, let the boys do the running and the boys seemed to like that! So girls, take a tip from me, keep an aura of mystique and let the guy do the chasing.

Thereafter nobody broke my heart, not that he did, but he dented my pride. I have been lucky in love, and for that I am very blessed, so the haiku at the end of this blog post ends on a positive note.

So with that in mind let’s return back to Ron’s prompt words Crystal and Hope, by introducing you to a photo that I took of a very special crystal grotto,  isn’t it spectacular?

get-attachment Kyrstallos picture

I wrote a post way back about this amazing place called Juniper Artland where I photographed this grotto, “The Light That Pours Out Of Me,” by Anya Gallacio, so perhaps if you’ve been following my blog for a long while you will remember it. If not, then here it is, (it’s always worth a multiple visit, so do click on the link):

https://kyrosmagica.wordpress.com/2014/06/15/jupiter-artland-the-light-pours-out-of-me/

Juniper Artland is a must see recommendation f you are ever in Scotland, it really is an amazingly inspiring place, here’s some of the other links on my blog in which I feature my response to sculptures at this wonderful Artland (via my photography and poetry) :

https://kyrosmagica.wordpress.com/2015/02/06/my-friday-image-juniper-artland-sculpture-firmament-by-anthony-gormley/

https://kyrosmagica.wordpress.com/2015/02/27/my-friday-image-and-poem-landscape-with-gun-and-tree-cornelia-parker/

https://kyrosmagica.wordpress.com/2015/02/20/my-friday-image-and-poem-a-worldwide-web-shane-waltener/

https://kyrosmagica.wordpress.com/2015/02/13/my-friday-image-and-poem-the-weeping-girls-laura-ford/

So this is my haiku inspired by Anya Gallacio’s magnificent Crystal grotto:

 

The Grotto of Unrequited Love

 ;

His  promise ring sits,

Crystal bright on my finger,

Mockery of  hope.

 

 In  tearful pieces,

Hope’s sweet embrace lost in stone,

Cruel, a clear cut edge.

 

Pain’s ocean rages,

Knife to fortune’s longing heart,

Hope’s pathway crumbles.

 

Crystal deep ridges,

Bury far inside my soul,

Desire groaning.

 

Luminous moment,

Lips lock hope’s tomfoolery,

Final kiss goodbye.

 

Fool I, to want you,

Curly haired lover,

Hope’s cheeky prankster .

 

Reverberating,

Darkness fills my soul, echoes,

Past sorrows return.

 

Transient moments,

Now, forgotten, forgiven,

Replaced by love’s light.

 

In Crystal Grotto,

Forever, hope, sparkles bright,

Love finds its sweet way.

 

© Marjorie Mallon 2016 – aka, Kyrosmagica. All Rights Reserved.

 

Do comment and let me know what you thought of my haikus, and of course the amazing  Juniper Artland.

Today I’m off work, so I’m doing a bit of blogging this morning, then off to Tai Chi, later in the day I have lots of chores to catch up on, sigh, if only I could do them like this!

Bye for now,

file (8)

Marje @ Kyrosmagica xx

Ronovan Writes BeWoW, Haiku Challenge, and Writer’s Quote Wednesday

haiku-challenge-image

Ronovan Writes Weekly Haiku Poetry PromptChallenger #71: Cover and Colour: https://ronovanwrites.wordpress.com/2015/11/16/ronovanwrites-weekly-haiku-poetry-prompt-challenge-71-covercolor/

For this week’s Haiku Challenge Ronovan has suggested two words beginning with the letter C that kind of sound like each other….. the letter C sounds like Sea, so, let me tell you all about my long love affair with the sea!!

From a very young age I have always loved the sea, always will, there is something about the sea that makes me very contented and joyful, so this haiku is to celebrate the sea, in all its strength and vitality. Of course sometimes the sea has a dark side too and can be a destructive, violent force, claiming lives in great tragedies but it is also a source of great joy, perhaps that is why I love the sea so much, you never can begin to imagine what the sea is thinking, and you must always, always respect its power and majesty. So this haiku is my post for Ronovan’s #BeWoW, which sets out to: (“Be Writing on Wednesday to Be Wonderful on Wednesday and make the world a better place to visit.”)  For this #BeWoW I’d like to celebrate the world around us, and the beauty that lives in the deep oceans of our world: https://ronovanwrites.wordpress.com/category/bewow-2/

 

be-wow-blogger

Cover Seven Tenths of My Heart

sunset-86214_640[1]

 

Cover seven tenths of my heart

Colour me with all your floats

Don’t leave me drowning

 

Colourful splashes

Spread to golden sunset dreams,

Substance of delight

 

 Cover me with love,

A colourful breath away,

Home in the oceans.

© Marjorie Mallon 2015 – aka, Kyrosmagica. All Rights Reserved.

Ronovan’s helpful links:

https://ronovanwrites.wordpress.com/haiku-challenges-guidelines/

https://ronovanwrites.wordpress.com/2014/07/03/how-to-write-a-haiku-poem/

 

Writer's Quote Wednesday

For Colleen’s Writer’s Quote Wednesday: http://silverthreading.com/2015/11/18/writers-quote-wednesday-bewow-paulo-coelho-magical-places/

I’d like to shout out about this fabulous quote about the sea:

IMG_1023

(The above photo was taken in Portugal, on a family holiday.)

“There was a magic about the sea. People were drawn to it. People wanted to love by it, swim in it, play in it, look at it. It was a living thing that was as unpredictable as a great stage actor: it could be calm and welcoming, opening its arms to embrace it’s audience one moment, but then could explode with its stormy tempers, flinging people around, wanting them out, attacking coastlines, breaking down islands. It had a playful side too, as it enjoyed the crowd, tossed the children about, knocked lilos over, tipped over windsurfers, occasionally gave sailors helping hands; all done with a secret little chuckle”
― Cecelia Ahern, The Gift

Cecelia Ahern was born on September 30, 1981 in Dublin, Ireland. She is the daughter of the former Irish Taoiseach Bertie Ahern. On 14th December 2009 it was announced that Cecelia had given birth to her first child with partner David Keoghan, a girl named Robin. She was secretly married on 11 June 2010 in County Kildare, Ireland. Her older sister, Georgina Ahern is married to Nicky Byrne of Irish pop group Westlife. Cecelia was a member of the Irish pop group Shimma who finished third in the Irish national for the Eurovision Song Contest in 2000. She attended Griffith College Dublin and obtained a degree in Journalism and Media Communications.

Cecelia Ahern wrote her first novel, PS. I Love You when she was twenty-one. It was published in 2004, the number 1 bestseller in Ireland for 19 weeks and sold in over forty countries. The book was adapted as a motion picture directed by Richard LaGravenese and starring Hilary Swank and Gerard Butler and released in 2007 in the United States.

Her second book, Where Rainbows End (US title: Love, Rosie or Rosie Dunne) won the German CORINE Award in 2005. She contributed with short stories to charity books and is also the co-creator and producer of the ABC comedy Samantha Who?.

Her other works include If You Could See Me Now (US title: A Silver Lining), A Place Called Here (US title: There’s No Place Like Here) Thanks for the Memories (US title: Desire Lines) The Gift The Book of Tomorrow.

Hope you enjoyed my post, celebrating the sea in all its wonder, bye for now,

file

 

Marje @ Kyrosmagica xx

3 Day 3 Quote Challenge: Day 2

WP_20151007_017[1]

I have been tagged by Janice who blogs at On the land to participate in the ‘3 Days, 3 Quotes Challenge’.  Many thanks to Janice for inviting me to participate in this challenge.  Janice blogs about our world and how important it is to care and nourish it:  Caring About Our World; Reflecting About Life. She hopes to encourage us to move towards a cleaner, more sustainable future and away from the worst consequences of climate change.

Here’s a link to her awesome blog: https://ontheland.wordpress.com/2015/10/14/3-days-3-quotes-challenge-thich-nhat-hanh-love-letter-to-the-earth-bewow-writers-quote-Wednesday/

The rules for the 3 Days, 3 Quotes Challenge:

1. Thank the blogger, who nominated you.

2. Share one new quote on three consecutive days on your blog. They can be from anywhere, anyone, or anything that inspires you… Which means, it can be from yourself, too!

3. On each of the three days, nominate 3 more bloggers to carry on this mission impossible endeavor (if they dare!).

So my quote today is about love. I decided to edit one of my photos of this pathway in a park and add this fabulous quote from Maya Angelou that caught my eye, its simple message is so humorous and true!!

Love is like a virus.

It can happen to anybody at any time.


Maya Angelou

Love is a bit of a pathway, a route you either choose to take or not, so that’s why I chose this particular photo to go with Maya Angelou’s quote.

I’ve added more photography on my Instagram account now, do pop by and see: https://instagram.com/kyrosmagica/

If I had to write a haiku about love it would go something like this:

bee-705412_640[1]

Here are my nominees if you’d like to take part!

My nominees:

http://cindyknoke.com/

http://www.mybookishlife.com/

https://booksandbakes1.wordpress.com/

Hope you enjoyed today’s quote, and my buzzy bee haiku, try not to catch a nasty love virus unless you want to!!

Bye for now,

file

Marje @ Kyrosmagica xx

#Blog Battle. An Exercise in Fun: Orchid Girl

This is my entry for Rachael Ritchey’s writing Blog Battle: http://rachaelritchey.com/blogbattle/

Week 28 Theme is Orchid and the genre of my short story is Paranormal Romance.

Date to Post: Tuesday, September 29th, 2015

Rules:
1.1000 words max
2.fictional tale (or true if you really want)
3.PG (no more than PG-13) Content – let’s keep this family friendly!
4.Your story must contain the word(s) from the theme and/or be centered around the theme in a way that shows it is clearly related
5.Go for the entertainment value!
6.State the Genre of your story at the top of your post.
7.Post your story on Tuesday, by 11:59 PM PST
8.Use the hashtag #BlogBattle when tweeting your story, put a link back to your #BlogBattle Short Story in the comments section of this page, and/or include a link to this page in your own blog post (it creates a “ping-back” which will alert me and our friends to your #BlogBattle post)
9.Have fun!

Orchid Girl

The heady exotic scent of the orchids reminded him of a time long ago. On that particular day he had filled his living room with a floral tribute to a past life which he celebrated each year without fail. But this time it was different, he had made special plans and now they were about to come to fruition. He waited nervously for the clock to announce that it was time for him to pick Suzie up. He could hardly contain his excitement; he set about making his house as beautiful as he could so that it would meet Suzie’s expectations. But would Suzie meet his?

He had been met with derision when he told his friends and family about his plans, a mail order bride how ridiculous! A middle aged, lonely old man, exhibiting signs of desperation that’s what they’d said, or intimidated.

He greeted his bride at the airport with a shy hug. An almost perfect vision of beauty, her petite frame, and jet black hair gleamed with a glossy, playful youthfulness but her delicate features couldn’t conceal a tragic expression that seemed irreversible.

He wondered how he was to bear looking at such a sad face for the rest of his life. He prayed that he could turn the sharp downwards turn of her lips to a smile.

The journey back to his house was more or less silent apart from short bursts of conversation, in which she replied with a yes or a no.

But when she walked into the living room, she couldn’t contain her enthusiasm.
“This pretty,” she said, pointing at the orchids, a hint of a smile playing seductively on the edge of her lovely lips.

The orchids had won a tiny place in her heart, orchids always did.

As the day departed and evening began to suggest itself Alfred’s nervousness increased. It was such a long time since he had gone to bed with a woman. So many years, he did not care to count how many. He worried about his wobbly tummy, his hairy chest smattered with tiny grey hairs. Would this young woman cry and sob into his sheets, would he be the cause of a further sharp downturn of her sweet lips?

He gave her privacy to get undressed, imagined her placing a silky negligee on the bed, slipping into it, and laying her head on his pillow. He imagined her black hair fanned out on the pillow, a sharp contrast to the crisp whiteness of the sheets. He plucked one of the orchids from its stem, and took it up to her intending to pop it into her hair.

When he walked into the bedroom the humid room reminded him of a stifling greenhouse. He opened the window to let in some fresh air. He daren’t look at her, not yet, that magical moment would come later. As the fresh air drifted into the room, he turned to undress her with his gaze, but he saw his foolishness straight away.

He sat on the edge of the crisp bed, his eyes brimming with tears. He deserved this. It was always the same, she never came. He wept, picking up his wedding picture, his wife Grace stared back at him. Grace’s smiling face could match the most beautiful of sunsets. He couldn’t bear it, why did he torture himself this way? She had died without his saying goodbye. No final farewell.

Every year it was the same, on the anniversary of her death, he always bought orchids, her favourite flower and he filled their home with them. But she didn’t come. He had resorted to shock tactics, imagining a fantasy to bring her back to him one last time. His fantasy scenarios never worked, he sensed her presence in their room, but she didn’t return to him. Why would she?

He didn’t deserve her. He cried, and cried. He lifted up the tiny bottle of pills, his hands trembled as he tipped them out. Such tiny pills, he thought, so harmless looking. The water next, one big gulp and it would be all over, no more suffering. But as he turned the lid of the bottle, he thought he saw a tiny movement. The glass had moved, it was no longer on his bedside table but appeared to be hovering before him. As he looked at the glass more closely he saw the sweet semblance of his wife, a shimmering sunset glow, holding death away from him. The water tipped, evaporating as it splashed.

Alfred couldn’t believe his eyes. She had come back, his Grace, his love. “It’s you,” he said, his voice cracked, breaking with emotion.
“Yes.”
“My Gracie, I’ve missed you so much. Why have you taken so long to come back to me?”

“Hurt lay heavy in my heart, so my friend time, became my healer. Now the time is right for you to live and love again. Now I can rest forever.”

  “No, Grace, please, there’s something I must tell you.”

“There’s no need, it has taken me a long while, but I forgive you Alfred. I always knew that you didn’t mean those hurtful words.”

“I’m so sorry Grace, I was stressed. I lost my temper, shouted at you, when I shouldn’t have. I blamed myself for your heart attack.”

“You’re not to blame Alfred. My heart attack wasn’t caused by anything you said. But all this crazy fantasising is giving me a ghost of a second heart attack! Promise me this Alfred, live your life. Let your fantasies become realities. Maybe not that mail order bride, that’s preposterous, but you know what I mean.”

“I promise, Grace.”

He tucked the living orchid in the wispy suggestion of her sunlit hair. She gifted him one last sunset smile, a whispered farewell, and the sweetest hint of a lover’s kiss.

© Marjorie Mallon 2015 – aka, Kyrosmagica. All Rights Reserved.

Thanks for reading my blog battle entry I hope you enjoyed it. Do comment and let me know what you think.

Bye for now,

file

 

Marje @ Kyrosmagica xx