Flash Fiction
I jostled for a pocket of airspace to observe - pried between shoulders of my ignoble peers, on tips of toes, peaking past plebeians. On tongues, the congested cobble stones roared with a frenzy at the culmination of the longest trial in the Shires history. The gallows stood stoically, silent, raised above the hysteria of the crowd, the town square frothing in a red mist. The noose swung with wicked calm on the delicate lips of the wind. The song of a doomed man. His final words, as his neck slipped through the knot, to be left unrecorded, unheard but to the ear of the hangman. The condemned – my beautiful son. The cruelest revelments murdered the air. Be silent! I cried his name. Nothing. Only mouths are we. Who sings? The distant heart which safely exists in the centre of all things. My son.
Written for dVerse’s Prosery, a short prose, in 144 words, incorporating the line;
“Only mouths are we. Who sings the distant heart which safely exists in the center of all things?”
– from Rainer Maria Rilke, “Heartbeat.”
Story by © Darius the Mate
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nicecissist 
Such a powerful image. Flung me immediately into the scene. And such a heart-breaking story. The lines included so smoothly into the prose. Well done 🙂
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Thank you kindly! 😃
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Your prose left me breathless, with chills. Stunning!
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Thank you Helen! A true compliment. 😃
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This is absolutely stellar writing, Darius. Such a chilling, potent description of those gallows, I clutched my heart when I read, “I cried his name. Nothing. Only mouths are we. Who sings? The distant heart which safely exists in the centre of all things. My son.”
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That you Sanaa, that’s a wonderfully kind review and I’m touched you read it. 😊
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Nice merging of beauty and tragedy in using the quote from the prompt.
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Thank you T.J.S Sherman! I appreciate your eye.
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This was dramatic, disturbing and heartbreaking: all in under 144 words – well done!
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Thank you Ingrid ☺️
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Stunning writing, Darius. That is a chilling description of the gallows, especially ‘The noose swung with wicked calm on the delicate lips of the wind’. I gasped when I read the words ‘my beautiful son’. Well done for manipulating the prompt line with punctuation.
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Thank you Kim.
I hoped “my beautiful son” would garner an emotional response in the reader – shock or/and sadness.
I am warmed by your positive appraisal – appreciated greatly! ☺️
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Wow.
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😅 Thanks!
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