Rose
A special Weekly Scribblings (Poets and Storytellers United) today for #42, About Those Bones... A prompt based on Magical Mystical Teacher's (Magical Mystical Teacher) haiku. Choices three. One, where might the bones have come from? Two, why is the subject of the haiku clutching a rosary? And/or third, write something inspired by the poem. As Meatloaf says, Two Out of Three Ain't Bad.
Magical Mystical Teacher's haiku:
fingers framed by light
clutching an old rosary
carved of human bone
ROSE
As her gnarled fingertips slide along the strand of beads,
she mumbles the Glorious Mysteries.
Just audible to her family gathered at her bedside,
they do not ask why she does so.
It is the way she has always done,
and will continue to do until her last near breath.
They will then untangle the chaplet from her fingers,
releasing it into the wastebasket next to the bed.
©2020 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved
Left: Stanhope, or Peephole Cross made of non-human bone, originally part of a bone bead rosary.
Right and below: Garden of Gethsemane as seen through the Stanhope lens in the center of the cross.
I edited the last few lines, as I noticed I'd used "bedside" twice, both ending lines.
Not bad at all! Beautifully described. It was certainly a prompt to inspire our inventiveness. Your illustrations and notes are fascinating too.
ReplyDeleteThank you. At first reading, I doubted I'd be able to write anything! I am not familiar with rosaries in the least. Research pays off!
DeleteWell if the woman gains some comfort and satisfaction in her belief why not?
ReplyDeleteThat's what I think about pretty much anything and everything, as long as it doesn't harm anyone. True harm, being offended by a belief other than your own doesn't count!
DeleteI never knew about those Stanhope crosses despite being raised Catholic. It feels like an utter shame to throw it out. It would seem like a nice memento to have since it was so dear to her, even if they were lapsed themselves. Or they could have buried it with her.
ReplyDeleteThey could have, and I like to think most would have. I saw today someone else had a photo of a Stanhope cross, including the beaded part!
DeleteThis is a heartbreaking, and say a lot more about the relatives than about her. I mean, what sort of creature would just dump something that obviously meant so much to someone else? I would say that I wish that the poor lady didn't realize what they meant to do, but I doubt it--when we are surrounded by beasts, we often glimpse the fangs.
ReplyDeleteI will assume she meant as little to them as the rosary did.
DeleteSo much forgotten in families--it makes me wonder why they are willing to witness and what they believe they are seeing.
ReplyDeleteIf they bother to think about what they are seeing. Perhaps they've heard stories over the years of "grandma's old beads, made of real bone," and think "how gross!" The idea would be rather ghoulish to many! Tibetan prayer beads can be made of human bone, and you can even buy the beads online.
DeleteWell, so much for clinging to a wonderful memento of dear old granny! Your last lines make quite a statement!
ReplyDeleteApparently she wasn't so "dear" to her family!
DeleteA memento deserving of preservation .... I enjoyed reading this.
ReplyDeleteThank you, I'm so glad you enjoyed it.
DeleteYou captured quite a family scenario in such a powerful and precise way! It certainly invites a strong reaction from the reader. If they didn't want it, at least let her have it in the grave! I LOVE this - even though it shocked me.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much!
DeleteBeautiful little old lady, I call LOL's, story. Dropping into the waste bucket to me meant that this rosary was to be only hers, when she goes it goes. I don't remember
ReplyDeleteever seeing a rosary but I know they are believed to help make more effective. "Self, you must read up on that."
I like your cross, I also liked our visit to the Garden of Gethsemane. Lots of thinking time is needed when there.
p.s. I did read up on the Stanhope Lens.
..
I'm not sure I've ever seen one either. I don't know the origin of my Stanhope cross, but the history of them in general is fascinating. It took me a bit to figure out how to get the photo of the image inside, as it is really, really tiny! Finally, I dabbed the lens with a Q-Tip that got rid of grime, then I actually taped it to the lens of my iPhone and held it up to the light!
DeleteThank you for your take on the LOL!