The summer had burned the landscape into a kind of silence. Every blade of grass seemed brittle enough to shatter beneath a glance. I climbed alone, following no trail, only a vague pull toward the ridge where evening gathered. The slope offered no clear passage, only a tangled maze of thorn and brush resisting every step. The hills so dry, so dense the underbrush, that where I pushed my way, the giant hush was changed to soft explosion.
Twigs cracked, seedpods burst, and hidden creatures scattered through the thorny dark. Yet beyond those brief disturbances, the land returned immediately to itself, swallowing every sound. Standing at the crest, I looked over a valley fading into a blue haze. The world seemed abandoned but not empty, as though something ancient still watched from within the silence, patient as stone, waiting for night to arrive.
Photo credits: Bare tree covered with fog by Carl Jorgenson, Unsplash.
Posted for Prosery: A view from the hills @dVerse Poets Pub
24 Responses
Beautifully written, Sanaa, with stunning detail. I especially love the opening sentence and the use of sound in the second paragraph – and the way ‘the land returned immediately to itself, swallowing every sound.’
The explosion at the end of the line carried so well into the redt kf that paragraph, amazing, Sanaa
Much love
Thank you so much, Gillena 😀 so glad you liked it 💄❤️
Thank you so much, Kim 😀 so glad you enjoyed it 💄❤️
I love how well you integrated that line into your own imagery of that walk… sounds like a memorable evening.
Thank you so much, Bjorn 😀 so glad the prose resonated with you 💄❤️
Sanaa this is a beautiful piece of writing.
Thank you so much, Lisa 😀 so good to see you 💄❤️
Sanaa, this is simply gorgeous ~~ a stream of consciousness for all of time.
Thank you so much, Helen 😀 so glad you enjoyed it 💄❤️
I love love love this line: “something ancient still watched from within the silence, patient as stone, waiting for night to arrive”. It harkens the inevitability of life and its continuous flow.
Thank you so much, Kim 😀 so glad the prose resonated with you 💄❤️
I love the other-worldly sense you convey – mysterious and lasting – Jae
Thank you so much, Jae 😀 so glad you liked it 💄❤️
👏👏👏👏
❤️❤️❤️
A story stunningly told, Sanaa. Every one of your lines was as poetic as the line given, and of the same flavor.
Thank you so much, Judy 😀 so glad you enjoyed it 💄❤️
This goes so well with the imagery. So very nice.
Thank you so much, Christopher 🙂 so glad the prose spoke to you 💄❤️
Love this, Sanaa, so lyrical and sensory. Like the perfect opening to a novel of adventure 🙂
Thank you so much, my dearest Sunra 😀 so glad you liked it 💄❤️
What a wonderful piece Sanaa, I love the detail of dryness, stone and ridge which tells its own story but also builds to the given line. The ending is superb, and leaves interpretation open. Loved it.
Thank you so much, Paul 😀 so glad you enjoyed it 💄❤️