Who sings the distant heart? #prose #dVerse

Spring has whispered its spell over the barren countryside turning the brown, one green. It has not yet reached the high karst mountain summits, but in the stand of beach cladding the slopes, witness its reaching. Another week, another day, another hour, and there will be a time for such a summit. Now the wild strawberries are in bloom: another month, they will be fruiting. Then the fruit will ripen and we will descend and plunder nature’s store of sweet secrets, for only mouths are we.

Who sings the distant heart which safely exists in the center of all things? The cuckoo. Through the woods, laying her eggs in nests that are for others, surely sings: we hear in it the first true song of spring.

Written for dVerse

Tonight, Sanaa is hosting Prosery, and has asked us to write a short prose piece (144 words or less) featuring this line from Rilke’s poem ‘Heartbeat:’

“Only mouths are we. Who sings the distant heart which safely exists in the center of all things?”

46 thoughts on “Who sings the distant heart? #prose #dVerse

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  1. This is absolutely stunning, Ingrid! I love the connection to Spring and the ripening fruit as we “descend and plunder nature’s store of sweet secrets, for only mouths are we.”💝💝 A fresh and original perspective on the prompt. Thank you so much for writing 😀

  2. I love the splashes of colour in this piece, Ingrid, especially those implied in the wild strawberries’ blooms and fruit, and the way you split the prompt line and the answer to the question – I haven’t heard the cuckoo yet, despite listening out for it.

  3. This is lovely, Ingrid! I love the connection to spring, and how it is gradually revealed. I remember you saying recently that you had heard a cuckoo for the first time in years. I don’t think we have cuckoos here.

    1. Thank you Merril. It is always good to hear their echoing call! Apparently they are absent from ‘the far north and north west of North America.’

  4. I love that first promise and how much more bounty that will come… but it’s those first hesitant part of spring that really make my heart leap. I would love myself some wild strawberries, but knowing that they will come make the waiting worth.

    1. It is a very beautiful time. I don’t think I’ve much of a chance getting those strawberries as surely the locals will harvest them as soon as they are ripe!

  5. “Wild Strawberries” is a classic Swedish film by the way. Yours includes the prompt line very artfully. Here in the Pac NW, it’s owls and crows yes, but Cuckoo no.

  6. I am thoroughly enjoying the variety of posts incorporating this prompt. Yours has a delightful poetic rhythm that celebrates the season.

  7. we hear in it the first true song of spring.

    It is such a relief to be hearing them and anticipating the strawberries make it satisfying, Ingrid!

    Hank

  8. I adore how you split the prompt and made it work. The splashes of color, how this flowed, this was a simply gorgeous call for spring, Ingrid.

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