Moonlit Dreams ~ prosery

/ Ken Gierke / rivrvlogr

Moonlit Dreams

My parents experienced difficult times in their final days, and it was easy to see they were most at peace when they were asleep. At the time, I truly believed: In their dreams, they sleep with the moon.

The loss of both came far too early. My father’s early retirement due to health concerns meant that, rather than winding down to retirement, he was left with troubled years that ended well before he could reach true retirement age. I know my mother pined for him for the next fifteen years. As her own health failed, and with it her memory, I imagined that, in her dreams, he would return to her on a moonlit night.

These days, in my own dreams, they never sleep. I trust they would want their time together to be waking moments. Even in dreams, each moment is truly precious.

This bit of flash fiction is my response to Prosery Monday: Moonbeams and Moon Dreams, presented by Merril at dVerse ~ Poets Pub. With Prosery, the challenge is to write a piece of flash fiction with a 144-word limit. Included in the bit of prose is to be a complete line from a poem. My flash fiction also meets the additional challenge of hitting the 144-word mark, exactly.
For this prompt, the line to be included is from “Death at Wind River,” by Mary Oliver. (the complete poem can be found here)

“In their dreams
they sleep with the moon.”

                              – Mary Oliver

36 thoughts on “Moonlit Dreams ~ prosery”

  5. The story of your parents touched my heartstring. My father was disabled by a stroke, but his mind was sharp; my mother spry as could be, but her mind was fogged. They compensated for one another in their final years. He went first, and she was lost without him to remind her of the days, and the names of their grandchilden. I do not fear death, but I fear the manner in which I get there!!

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    • Thank you, Beverly. Failure to properly address health issues into his late forties led to my father’s death by sixty. My mother was lost without him. I’ve not had any major health issues, but closing in on seventy has me more conscious of any little thing that arises.

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  7. Nice write, KG. Clearly very different from my own parental story. My mother, like yours, had real trouble letting him go, even though he totally abandoned her about a couple decades before she died. Sadly, he was (and always remained) The Man Of Her Dreams even though he was a nightmare as spouses go.

    Strong use of prompt

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