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Hiraeth
Based on the truly unique and brilliant short story by Roald Dahl “The Swan”. Inspired by the film adaptation by Wes Anderson.
the cracked burst of blood shot through the beautiful morning air.
The swan lay dying, dying
Dropped and drooped, long white neck against her watery nest.
The little boy, furious
Injustice creeped along the beating heart of his wrestling chest,
Squeezing it so tight
He believed the swan
And he, himself
were one.
The air settled down into a blueprint of the same sort of shape that he had felt before
The shape of a brutal beast that trampled upon him everywhere
The screaming cacophony of cruel fate
And as he swam through the clear waters
The bloody smooth appendages of the pristine animal mother of his mortality
Tore apart, a surgery that lacked finesse
Laying at his back.
The intestinal genocide that followed him
Gave him a terrible sense of hiraeth…
The terrible, truly,
Deeply melancholic, brutal vision
Of flight
Mid-air
He finally knew the wave of the world
So incredibly powerful, the smooth flow of air, sound, light
Love & death and darkness
It was a tragically gorgeous moment.
About the Creator
Melissa Ingoldsby
I am a published author on Patheos,
I am Bexley by Resurgence Novels
The Half Paper Moon on Golden Storyline Books for Kindle.
My novella The Job and Atonement will be published this year by JMS Books
Keep reading
More stories from Melissa Ingoldsby and writers in Poets and other communities.
Comments (16)
Gorgeous! This is such a moving piece. So well done, Melissa! 💫
Your poem is a hauntingly beautiful. congrats on getting it as a Top Story — totally deserved! 🙌
Phenomenal! BRAVO!👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
Thank you for sharing this. It's one of those that needs reading twice. At least 😀
Back to say congratulations on your Top Story! 🎉💖🎊🎉💖🎊
You brought so much realism and sorrow to this piece, so glad to see it as a well deserved Top Story. Congratulations
I don't know the story but I know the word and what a powerful one it is too. Intense poem.
Well it's about time. Congrats on the TS.
This is gorgeous sis and I think your thousandth Vocal STory, it should be a Vocal Top Story
Oh my goodness!! This was so hauntingly beautiful! So intense! So emotional! It hit me so hard! Loved your poem!
Why do we so often take until it's too late finally to hear, see, & understand?
We walk in a place that is a refuge. In the Fall, they allow hunting and close off sections. This poem reminds me of a movie from years ago - scenery across the planet and birds on the wing; maybe Winged Planet? In one scene, swans are flying, and a hunter shoots one, and silently, it spirals down to the ground. 🥲. I'd be pleased if you would read some of my nature poems.🦋
Exquisitely written!!! 💕❤️❤️
I love Swans. this a great portrayal of a tragic poem for sure.
Beautifully tragic, great job!
Oh my. This poem itself is "tragically gorgeous."