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Ashes in the wind.

I was tied to a stake, in the middle of town square, surrounded by tinder. My belly full of fire, my lungs filled with smoke, and lips coated with soot; the ash clung to the inside of my mouth.

I wanted to call out to you, but I had already forgotten your true name; the only one that you’d ever responded to. Even if I had been able to catch your attention… Would you really have granted me clemency? Was it foolish of me to hope so?

I tried to remember, how I ended up bound to the pyre. But oxygen was sparse, and my memory spread thin. I couldn’t recall if I was a sacrifice, or a martyr. I couldn’t tell if I was the one who had been set ablaze, or if the fire had originated from the smoldering bodies… laid out at my feet. 

The flames licked at my face, and singed my hair. The stink of burnt assaulted my nostrils. I choked on the noxious fumes. Maybe the smoke was just a physical manifestation of my own desire; a suffocating apparition of regret; a vengeful monster, birthed of my own sins.  My eyes stung, waiting for tears that would never fall, because they evaporated without a drop of succor left to spare.

I burned slowly, without epiphany, or confession. Without knowledge of my motivations, deeds, or crimes. I was as ignorant as a new born babe, save for one luminous detail…

I knew that I had loved you… and that was enough to endure the blaze, ‘till the end.

Did you weep, or smile, when the wind blew away my ashes?

comments

60 notes

  1. snhamlett reblogged this from ordinarywonder and added:
    Wow…just…wow!
  2. thebatterwitchscake reblogged this from ordinarywonder
  3. This was featured in #Prose
  4. theinvictus reblogged this from ordinarywonder
  5. loqui said: *cough cough* ‘lungs’, 2nd sentence ;) This piece is really beautiful, Noelle. Really strong imagery.. I can smell it!
  6. thewritersaddress said: Urgh. I love it.
  7. emaciatedbeauty answered: smile. the body is nothing but a shell. what we love. our ideas. our energies. our passions..live not inside a body but are immortal.
  8. shermeanuhh said: <3
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