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Printed from https://www.writing.com/main/books/item_id/2044345-Louise-is-Elizabeth-Hykes-blog/day/11-15-2022
Rated: E · Book · Writing · #2044345
Writing about what I have been reading and encountering in the media.
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I comment on things I am reading, thinking about, encountering in media, and spiritual issues. I hope you will find something interesting. PS. I love feedback...
November 15, 2022 at 11:01am
November 15, 2022 at 11:01am
#1040683
Cleaning out his closet, Starla found
three chess pieces; queen, rook, and knight,
all carved of black marble.

"Why a rook and not a castle?
Makes me think of birds."

Carefully,
she put the pieces on the bureau,
beside her mother’s wooden lamp
with a pale pink nineteen fifties shade.
Over the years, she faithfully dusted the trio,
sometimes wondering why.

One Christmas,
she received a candle from a friend. Lighting
the candle to honor this event or that hope,
she arranged the pieces around the candle:
"A pleasant arrangement."
As time passed and the candle burned away
the chess pieces seemed more and more
like sentinels.

With age came losses, friends, family, health.
Her doctor referred her to the nursing home.
She knew she would never go home.
The chess pieces went with her. Sometimes,
an aide would ask about them. She would say
“They have been with me a long time,”
moving them closer to her.

When, finally, the end came, her caregivers found
the chess pieces; the queen in Starla’s right hand;
rook and knight in her left.
No one came for her.

The nursing home people, the doctor, and
the funeral director decided to leave the pieces
in her hands on her way to the crematorium.
They gave specific instructions.

When her remains returned, the marble
chess pieces, lay intact on top of her
soft, grey ashes. After the nursing home manager
did as Starla had asked with her ashes,
she placed the chess pieces on her shelf and
dusted them faithfully, sometimes
wondering why.


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Printed from https://www.writing.com/main/books/item_id/2044345-Louise-is-Elizabeth-Hykes-blog/day/11-15-2022