100TC #21 - Sacrifice

Here is number 21 of my 100 Themes Writing Challenge. This one is a short and rather spontaneous prose I have written a few weeks ago, titled In Times of War and based on the theme 'sacrifice'. Enjoy ;)

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- SACRIFICE -

In Times of War

It is quite funny to see how much one can change from a day to the next. I used to be such a calm person, so peaceful, never looking for trouble. That is until war was declared. I never thought I would fight such a battle yet here I am, on the front row, ready to reclaim what is mine by right.

I never looked for trouble, in fact I have been avoiding it all my life. Yet, when someone attacks what you believe in, when someone tries to take away what is yours, it changes you. For the best or for the worst? That I know not, but I know there is a flame in my chest that is growing stronger everyday. To reclaim what is mine I will be ready to use any means necessary. What am I expected to do, fight a fair fight? We are way beyond this. When the enemy does not follow a righteous path, it is one's duty to reply in such a manner.

You cannot expect to try and take away our freedom without a fight. Know this, we are stronger than you. We are better organised. We will win this war and you will lose everything. No one is born yet who will strip me of my rights. No one is born who will steal from me. No one is born who will fail to respect me and go unpunished.

You might not be aware of the war you started, but the resistance is here. And way stronger than all of your pathetic 'soldiers'. Together we are strong, and together we will win. You will fall, you will fail, and you will never get back on your feet.

You started messing with the wrong person. I used to be peaceful once, but in times of war you need to change, you need to get tough and fight back if you want to protect what is yours. In times of war there is no more respect, only strategy. And my mind is stronger than yours. You started messing with the wrong person and you will be punished for this. It will not only be a failure, it will be your doom. I will never forget this nor forgive.

In times of war, justice will always triumph. I will win and you will lose. It is only a matter of time. I will revel in my victory, but even more in your loss. I will be on top watching you fall, I will be the hand that pushes you downhill and laughs. Victory will be blissful, your defeat will be ecstatic.

I look forward to see you fail. I look forward to the joy and satisfaction it will bring me. Victory is right in my sight, and I will seize it.

This is war. And you will lose.

***

(c) Copyright 2015 David Giroux aka Hope Alexander for the text

Painting : Kasimir Malevitch, White on White, 1918

100 TC #14 - Happiness

New post for the 100 Themes Challenge, based on the theme happiness.

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- HAPPINESS -

Revival

It has been a while, yes I am very much aware of this fact. I have done all I could but, you know how it is right? When you block, you block, and there is nothing else you can do about it but wait. But I am back on now, well at least I think. Who knows, might be a fake start but only time will tell.

I have been wondering what it means, why I even care about doing this? There are so many other things I could be doing right now; doing work, watch TV, play videogames, do some cleaning. Yet here I am, typing this. Why? Well I am not sure, I think it is just to put me back on the right track. But then, why do I need it? What is the point, is that really something I need to do?

It has been a while, and I have been wondering what is the meaning of happiness. What is it to be happy? Is happiness found in the simple things of life? Is happiness the warm coffee I shared with my lover this morning? Is it the sound of my favourite song ringing in my ears? Is it the comfort of a cozy bed after a long and tiring day? It could be all of this, or more?

Would this really be happiness? The writing of these words after weeks of block, the feeling of them flowing out of my mind unto the paper, the ecstasy of creation. This is only a prelude and more is to come. Hapiness can have many faces, so does Sorrow, yet all of them are tools to creation; they are both the means and the end, into an infinite cycle of the mind.

I would not have the pretention of defining happiness. I am not a philosopher; just a poet. I love the words for beauty's sake and I exist for its admiration. This makes me happy. This is my purpose.

11:07, sipping my coffee, I write this line. I think it's a wrap. This is the starting point I needed. I am back, ready for more. But now, I need to start writing.

***

(c) 2015 Hope Alexander aka David Giroux

100TC #9 - Insanity

I know I have not posted a new text for a long time, and I am sorry. But inspiration is something that has to come by itself, and forcing it does not always give good result, so I prefer taking my time to do things properly ;) So here is the 9th entry of my 100 Themes writing challenge, based on the theme "Insanity".

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- INSANITY -

Sex And Whiskey

She was a strong woman. She was about to give birth to her first child. Well she hoped to, her last attempt at having a child had been a failure. Stillborn, her baby died before he even came to life. She was scared to death about it happening again, and she prayed to all the gods to hear the baby cry. It was time, the baby was here. She had been drugged by the doctors to avoid birth complications. For some reason she was still half-conscious. She had no idea how long she had been on the hospital bed with the doctors surrounding her, but she could still see them even though she couldn't not feel a thing. Their voices were muffled and her sight was clouded, yet she was still half aware of what was going on. After what seemed to be hours, the baby had finally come out of her womb. She fell unconscious.

I woke up, feeling real bad. I felt like I was having the worst hangover of my life. Where was I? I could see shapes and shadows walking around me, but I couldn't see much, nor hear much either for that matter. It was like there was a giant storm around my head, shielding me from what was going on in the outside world. And that pain in my head, it was as if I had just been hammered. What on earth could have happened, where was I? Who was I? 

The young man prayed to all the gods everything would go well. He had only just started on the job, and he felt like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. Maybe not the world, but at least one life depended on him. Maybe even two. He had to succeed. He was well aware of how the previous attempt ended in failure and he surely did not want to be the one linked to it. He would feel responsible, and he could never forgive himself if it did fail. Taking a deep breath, he moved forward.

That feeling of the first sip from a glass of aged whiskey, there is nothing like it. I can feel it go down my throat and into my stomach into a long, nice and warm embrace. There is nothing else in the world like it. Keeps me warm when the outside world is so cold, like a hug from a past that used to be good, unlike this full of shit present, and an even bleaker future if you ask me. I have nothing else left now. I have made mistakes in the past and they will follow me to my grave. Whiskey is my only friend now, the only thing that keeps me alive. Keeps the madness at bay. Meh, it is better than all the suffering I guess. That was not my fault, yet they blamed it on me, the bastards. And because of them my life is lost forever. I have no reason left to go on.

What is life to someone who barely has the time to breathe it? Is there really nothing for someone who dies before being brought into the world? Or maybe there is something after all? Maybe what is for us the glimpse of a second is for them a whole lifetime? Who knows those things? No one? Lies! I do, because I have lived it. There is no one to hear my dying thoughts, except maybe you, whoever you are. You will know how it is. A life of death. What fate it is to be born only to die right after? I did not even have time to live, nor to actually learn how to talk... So how is it I am using words in my thoughts if I do not even know what words are? Are we born with the gift of the Verb, even if we think we do not know how to use it? Are we born out of something that died? I do not know, but here I am thinking, even though I should not. Maybe I should stop thinking. Yet there is no such thing as not thinking. No matter how hard you try, you cannot not think, and that even if you do not have a brain. So here I think. And the writer types what I think. And you reader read what he typed. And so we are one. You are inside me through him. It is like a threesome when you think of it. We are sharing a sexual experience here. Is it not great? I liked sex in my time! Or did I? Actually I do not think I ever experienced it. Or maybe I did. Anyway it was great. Or not. I do not know. What do you care anyway? Leave me alone, get out of my head.

The voices would not stop haunting him since that day. Voices of the dead, of people who suffered because of him. The more he would go on, the less sense they made. As this, this did not make sense.

You read this yet you do not. Reading those sentences, you scratch your head. The memories of the dying. You wonder what is the link between all those paragraphs. Maybe the writer is just trying to fool me, you think. Maybe I am losing my time reading this. That is exactly what you are thinking. You close your eyes, trying to make sense out of this. Yet you cannot understand something so senseless. You decide reading this is not worth your time. You have better things to do. This is just plain insane, you think as you click off the tab on your internet browser.

*** 

(C) Copyright 2014 Hope Alexander aka David Giroux for the text

Painting by Edgar Degas (1876)

100TC #8 - Memory

8th entry of the 100 Themes writing challenge. For my previous entry I have been doing mostly short stories. This one will be a bit different, it is more of a poetic text and is open to interpretation, I hope you enjoy :)

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- MEMORY -

Call of Mnemosyne

The sound of church bells...

I remember

I remember a church. I see a sea of people in ceremony garb. A king and a queen, and obviously nobility. They are crying. A coffin is being carried. People are mourning. Who died? Who is being mourned? Could it be me?

The scent of spring flowers...

I remember

A large garden, not from this time. Going farther than the eye can see. People watering the flowers, gardeners hard at work. A magnificent garden that is almost a work of art. I look at it from a balcony. Where am I? Is this a caslte? Could this be my house?

The sight of an old house...

I remember

I remember white stairs. All in white, hidden behind a hidden door. Windows bringing in a faint light in the secret staircase. The white stairs are going up. What could be on the upper floor?

The feel of the summer sun on my skin...

I remember

Warm sand under my bare feet. I am trapped in it, I cannot move. I am getting sucked in. In the distance I can admire magnificent buildings. I scream but no one can hear me. Is this how I died?

The taste of jasmine tea in the morning...

I remember

I remember a magnificent city, and a banquet full of exotic dishes, the scent of jasmine filling the air. Hundreds of guests attending, their heads turned towards me. Is this in my honour?

The sight of blood...

I remember

Someone having a heart attack. I hurry towards them, they need help. I get some tools and help them breathe. How do I have this talent?

The burning passion of sex...

I remember

I remember a handsome man, naked, enlaced with me. We are careful not to be seen. We cannot be seen together. He holds me tight in his arms. Is he my lover?

Only faint images, pictures flashing in my head like memories from a past I have never lived. Unless I have lived another life, or maybe more than one? I remember it, it is unclear, only fragments. But I remember it. These flashes are as real as any other memory. Yet what are memories, are they all real or only the product of our imagination? And what if imagination and memories were both the truth, what if they were one and the same? I know one thing for sure, I do not belong here. I remember where I truly belong and no fake memories will take that away from me.

***

(C) Copyright 2014 Hope Alexander aka David Giroux for the text

Painting : Mnemosyne by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1881)

100TC #2 - Light

So far so good, I start well by keeping the pace of one text a day, I can do it ;) If you do not know what I am on about, this is the second text of the 100 Themes writing challenge! Today's theme is Light. Instead of going with a rather metaphysical text like I did yesterday, this one is more of a short story. I hope you enjoy :)

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- LIGHT - 

Getting Closer

How long has it been since I have last seen the light? I cannot remember. Weeks? Months? Years? It is like time has lost its meaning. Without light there is no time. Ironic though it is to think that where I am, I am amongst the lights themselves, closer to them than any human has ever been before. Yet it is so cold and it is as if in the immensity of space the light loses all its radiance. I can see them shine, far in the distance even though I am getting closer. Getting closer, yet still so insanely far. It is as if, the closer you get, the farther you realize you are. There is no reaching the light. Many have tried, all have failed, and it is how it shall be ‘til the very end of time itself; there is no reaching what is unreachable. I have come to realize it now. Too late it is, yes, but at least now I know. By trying to pursue my dream, I have found doom and loneliness. I have tried so hard to get what I wanted, too hard, and it is what has taken it away from me. My days are ending, for I am drifting alone - a loneliness I have brought upon myself - without any chance of rescue. Who would find me here, in this life-forsaken infinite space? On my final days I realize that I have been foolish and that I am not a god, only a man. I should feel sad, I should feel broken, destroyed. Yet, I feel... serene. I have not achieved my dream, though I end up living my last days where most men will not ever find themselves. And now I know that there is no reaching the divine light. It is part of a realm that exists, that has always existed. I can see why our ancestors, and still the simple-minded people of our time, worshipped them as deities. It is for the fact that even if the light is unreachable, it is there so powerful it can burn us, yet there is no getting close to it. It is when you are where I am that you realize that all you have learned does not make any damned sense. I have believed in science as they believed in their petty idols. Turns out I was just as wrong as them. It matters not now, not anymore. I just hope the infinite light will offer me the beautiful Death I always wanted...

***

Art : Odilon Redon - L'oeil comme un ballon étrange se dirige vers l'infini - 1878

(C) Copyright 2014 Hope Alexander aka David Giroux for the text

100TC #1 - Love

Here is the first text from the 100 Themes Challenge, starting with the theme Love. I hope you enjoy and please let me know your thoughts :) 

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- LOVE -

There is but one truth. We live in a sea of lies. We think we can see, yet what the light sines on is but a series of beautiful deceptions. We think we know. We do not. Everything is an illusion. Whatever we take for granted, it is what slips away first. To find the truth, some will give their lives, walk until they reach the end of the world. A vain effort it is. The heart knows. Some feel, some do not. Full or broken, it is only what we have made out of it. Another deception I am afraid. If the heart knows, then why cannot we? The feelings of the heart, do they exist really? What is our human shell trying to tell us? There is one force that has driven mankind to madness. If control is lost, then love overflows. It is the only truth, one that can as well be deceptive. The line between truth and lies in itself is a lie. If you love, you die. And if you die, you know. 

***

(C) Copyright 2014 Hope Alexander aka David Giroux for the text

100 Themes Challenge

Poet And The Muse - Gustave Moreau - 1891

Hello everyone,

So my dear friend and fellow writer and blogger Maurhue The Great has started doing a writing challenge, which I have been invited to undertake as well. Here is the challenge: there is a list of 100 themes. Each day At least once a week, I will write a short text (poem or prose, depends on my mood ;D) based around that theme. I will try as best as I can to post one every day week at least. So yes, that means a new text on this blog for the coming 100 days at least once a week ;) Is that not great? :D I certainly do hope you enjoy reading, and as usual, let me know what you think! Without further ado, here is the list of the 100 themes (if you click on the theme it will bring you on the text for it) :

1. Love (24/04/14)
2. Light (25/04/14)
3. Dark (26/04/14)
4. Seeking Solace (28/04/14)
5. Break Away (05/05/14)
6. Innocence (06/05/14)
7. Breathe Again (11/05/14)
8. Memory (12/05/14)
9. Insanity (28/05/14)
10. Silence (23/06/14)  
11. Blood (02/07/14)
12. Tears (08/08/14)
13. Sorrow (19/08/14)
14. Happiness (07/01/15)
15. Flower (08/01/15)
16. Night (12/01/15)
17. Stars (03/02/15)
18. Eyes (10/04/15)
19. Dream (13/04/15)
20. Waiting (15/04/15)
21. Sacrifice (17/04/15)
22. Fairy Tale (18/04/15)
23. Magic (13/05/15)
24. Mirror
25. Broken Pieces
26. Starvation
27. Words
28. Can you hear me?
29. Heal
30. Pain
31. Drowning
32. Last Hope
33. Puzzle
34. Solitude
35. Relaxation
36. Break
37. Mother
38. Want
39. Wrath
40. Moon
41. Walk
42. See
43. Die
44. Young
45. Need
46. Horrific
47. Snow
48. Storm
49. Alcohol
50. Alone
51. Gone
52. Wedding
53. Fantasy
54. Lock and key
55. Poison
56. Sword
57. Bones
58. Chains
59. Rainbow
60. Midnight
61. Fear
62. Underwater
63. Wings
64. Unseen
65. Princess
66. Sharp
67. Fading
68. Dirt
69. What if...
70. Lace
71. Bird
72. Fashion
73. Bunny
74. Scars
75. Sparkle
76. Confusion
77. Freedom
78. Joy
79. Time
80. Warmth
81. Insomnia
82. Dance
83. Message
84. Imaginary
85. Underworld
86. Ice
87. Hope
88. Song
89. Fire
90. Lost
91. Play
92. Run
93. Wild
94. Morning
95. Loneliness
96. Sweet
97. Courage
98. Grandparents
99. Ocean
100. Forever