When all the stories end

Who gets the last laugh
when all stories end?
Who will tell our tales
when silence descends?

When life is dust and gone,
and barren lies the land,
who remains to care
when all the stories end?

Our mark upon the crust
scorched by swollen sun.
Histories dissolved,
our satellites far flung.
Just litter in the stars
when all the stories end.

The flicker of each life,
connected all at once.
Each moment deep and wide
with everything we’ve done.

Before the stories end,
matters always mattered,
for in each story’s end
another’s story gathered.

We can’t perceive the threads,
but everything’s entwined,
we’re woven into patterns
of countless unseen lines…
until the end of time,
when all the stories end.


News got me feeling down, thinking about the end of peace, the end of human life, of all life. Figured the best way to stop that spiral is to lament it, when all the stories end and no one is left to live them, let alone share them. While the wealthy pillage the earth, indifferent to their fellow man, apathetic to the other life affected, their story too will end. Will we all follow? Will all stories end just to feed the rich?

The Weight of the Ring

Original Prompt: You look at the ring you’ve struggled to take off for years. (Reality Fiction)


The ting barely made it through my headphones. Just another noise during a busy time in the gym.

“Dude.”

An arm waved into view.

“Hey, dude.” A friendly face beckoned eye contact.

Pausing my music I asked, “Yeah? What’s up?”

“You dropped your ring, man.”

“What?”

He pointed down at the ground, a misshapen ring laying there. I pulled my hand heavily into view, stripping the workout glove slowly.

The indention was stark, pale. The grooves around the edges almost perfectly matching the marginally rounded rim of the fallen ring. After all these years…

“Um, thanks.”

I reached down to unceremoniously pocket the band. Rolling it in my digits for a moment before sheathing my hand again and grabbing the barbell once more.

After all these years, all the pain and suffering. All the labor to shed weight and “get back in the game.” All the tears and struggle to fit the ring back over my thick fingers. Another reminder of the past, but now, the freedom I’d been craving since she left.

“Thanks, man.”

“Wasn’t that your wedding ring?”

“Yeah.”

“Jesus, Don, how long did you have that on?”

“Well, married for 7, divorced for 4.”

“Why didn’t you take it off sooner? Still holding out hope?”

“Oh hell no. Just…” I trailed off and looked at myself in the mirror. “Just had to make some changes.”


Inspiration Source:
https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/qw799l/rf_you_look_at_the_ring_youve_struggled_to_take/