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Saturday, May 30, 2009

The Magnolias Still Bloom – Chapter VIII

I see trees of green, red roses too.
I see them bloom, for me and you.
And I think to myself... what a wonderful world.

I see skies of blue, and clouds of white.
The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world...

 

The love of my life died… a week later.

 

And I love her still…

 

She made me promise that I’d stay happy, and find love again. That’s the only promise I’ve ever broken in my life.

 

I look at the silver ring on my little finger – the piggy that went “wee wee wee” – and stroke the warm metal, something that’s become a habit. It was her ring, the one that she gave me before she died.

 

“I want you to wear this to remember me by… “ she had said, gently placing the strip of silver onto my little finger (the only one that the ring would fit on).

 

On a day like this, the anniversary of the day she died, I tend to wander out of my house and think of long ago, when there was a boy. Long ago, when there was the girl who lived in a yellow house around the corner.

 

Long ago, when they were in love.

 

… but those days are gone.

 

On days like this, when the wind is cold and the sky is watery grey, and the world is quiet, I like to sit on the park bench with peeling red paint – her bench, our bench.

 

And then, all I can do is walk to the cemetery where she lies buried, along with a piece of my heart. A piece that was buried along with the love of my life, on that fateful day, twelve years ago. A piece that lies beneath the marble tombstone, carved in the shape of a magnolia.

 

The tombstone is inscribed with the a little verse that she wrote:

 

Shirley (1972 – 1997)

 

I might not be with you,

lying deep in nature’s womb,

but think of me and smile,

whenever the magnolias bloom.

34 comments:

Sumit said...

Thanks everyone for reading regularly, and posting comments and thoughts.

I truly appreciate that.

I know many of you must be hating me for the end of the story. I'd probably have done so, if someone else had written this tale.

But, to tell you the truth, I've cried while writing it - especially the last two chapters.

The story is fictional, but the emotions of the main protagonist are real.

P.S. Please don't hate me!

Abhi said...

hey come on man!

Its your story! u may want to end it, anyway you like! No one's gonna hate u, come on!

And it was a beautiful story, nonetheless.. The way the emotions have been described, and the little detailing, elucidate ur mastery over the art of story writing..

Now i just hope that, while this story has ended, we can expect more of them soon enough :)

May be one in which, no one has to die! :)

Vinita Apte said...

ohhh thats a sad ending ,but the story was fantastic. You have a knack to write fiction. And no one's gonna hate you :). actually i could feel the raw emotions through the story. Waiting for another fiction story from you :)

Corinne Rodrigues said...

Sumit - This was so beautiful, you kept us coming back for more. Keep writing and someday soon we're going to see you name in lights!
Hugs
Corinne

Unknown said...

Quite on the lines of an M&B romance so far. The end was what made me shed a tear inspite of knowing all along she was gonna go :(

Very refreshing! :) Fiction writing is defly ur forte. Superb piece of work!

Saurabh said...

well, death or separation doesn't symbolise pessimism or hopelessness, and "the magnolias still bloom" is a beautiful example of that.congratulations, sumit and thanks for sharing this story. hope we get to read more work from you !

Anonymous said...

Sumit the ending was so touching and beautiful...
Am waiting for the next story release from this author now :)

Sumit said...

@Abk... I hope to write many more, and ones in which no one dies too. :) Thanks for the appreciation.

@Aquarius... sure! Thank you, and I will keep writing as and when possible.

@Corinne... thank you, that was a wonderful comment.

@Anu... thank you!

@Saurabh... thanks a lot, man! I hope so too. :)

Sumit said...

@Choco... thanks a lot. :) I hope I'll be writing some more fiction soon.

Yong Sheng said...

dang.. the girl died

Roshmi Sinha said...

It is a beautiful story... and has a haunting quality about it. My mind went back to another story I had read many years ago... as a schoolgirl... It was called, "Remember the Roses".

It is a very touching story which kind of lingers on and on... for a long time... in the readers mind... even after the last word has been read. Especially the last line: "See Jehane I remembered the roses."

Here is the link... where you can read about it. It also includes the link to download the pdf version of it... for posterity:
http://frozenthoughtz.wordpress.com/2008/04/07/remembering-the-roses-and-its-yet-unanswered-question/

Two other links being:

1. http://www.remembertheroses.com/story.php

2. http://www.remembertheroses.com/characters.php

Roshmi Sinha said...

Your story has shades of the Erich Segal classic... "Love Story" as well.

Tangerine said...

i know i havent been posting comments as regularly as i'd like... but i read it all.

its just so beautiful!

Unknown said...

Absolutely loved the story sir...
More power to you.. keep writing!

A journey called Life said...

a befitting finale to a an extremely well written piece.. u must consider publishing this..

(though i still wish you hadnt let her die)

Sumit said...

@Yong...sadly, yes. :(

@Roshmi... I just followed the links you provided and the story is wonderful. Even more wonderful is the story of how the original author was located.

And yeah, I guess there are shades of Erich Segal in there. (Though, his heroine was much more brash and open)

@Tang... thanks for reading. :)

@Sukhjot... thanks buddy.

@journey ... I'll think about it, thanks! And it was tough to 'kill' her - while writing, I could almost see her sitting in front of me. :(

Freya said...

mmmm.. beautiful

Sumit said...

Freya, thanks! :)

Mukund said...

Brilliant story buddy... just great through out... I belive there are no happy endings in life so I liked every bit of it, including the end...
As each and every comment has said it was amazing and kept me interested through out...

Sumit said...

Thanks Mukund, I'm glad you liked it.

Kadambari said...

Aww! This had to happen. But you said it so beautifully. There was so much emotion and love! Especially those lines of poetry here and there! Sigh! But great writing! :)

Chicky said...

"...where she lies buried, along with a piece of my heart."Dude! You've got some real skills there! Most females can't express emotions so well, and you being a guy, have managed to put them across in words so brilliantly! You really are in touch with your feelings, to have created such a beautiful piece of writing!

All I'll say is - "You deserve a grand salute!" (In the words of Mithun from Dance-India-Dance! LOL!)

Sumit said...

@Kaddu, thanks! The lines on the last page 'what a wonderful world' are not mine, actually. I don't know if you've heard of vocalist Eva Cassidy. She died of a melanoma, and on her last stage performance ever, she sang that song. My brother was coincidentally listening to it, while reading the previous chapter, and told me about it. So, I decided to include it.

@Kaddu... thanks! Actually, I guess guys are not the unemotional cavemen that they are made out to be. :) Just that perhaps, we're programmed to not let them out too often. And thanks for the Mithu-da salute. :P

Chicky said...

Sighhhhhh! But life wud be so much easier na, if men did express their feelings! :(

And what's this...
"@Kaddu"
"@Kaddu"

We both put in such efforts to write posts on our blogs to help u guys differentiate between us! All gone to waste! Hmmmppphhhhh!

Sumit said...

I agree! And sadly, I think I'm much more expressive in the written form than any other. (Still struggling to 'express' some things on some front. :( )

As far as differentiation goes, I reckoned that the Kaddus are bright enough to discern which comment is meant for which one. :D

Chicky said...

Hahhh! Very smart! You think buttering is going to get u out of trouble Mister? :-D

Btw, even I am more expressive in writing! I'm as bad as a man when it comes to expressing my feelings in person! Can seem completely uncaring at times... which is so far from the truth in reality! LOL! Looks sure can be deceptive!

Sumit said...

Buttering...huh...me...erm...? :D

'as bad as a man' eh? :|

I can relate to the 'uncaring' bit. Many people walk away with that impression till they talk to me a few times..

Chicky said...

:-D You shud make the read this story... at gun-point if u must! And they'll see how wrong they are!

Why don't u hv tht chat widget here dude? We cud hv chatted abhi na! Or u come on my blog if u r free n we'll chat from thr ???

Shreyans Mehta said...

This is simply wow! Its a heart felt tale of mesmerizing beauty. The emotions are so pure... The story is very simple and yet it moves you... This is indeed beautiful! :)

Sumit said...

Shreyans... thanks :)

Piggy Little said...

its like one of the really readily available love stories which feature in abundance. and yet, the addition of those small verses here and there, the red bench and the yellow house round the corner and that her name was shirley; made the story awesome. simply awesome. u made me cry, and i can well believe u cried too. happens to me too sometimes, except i cannot cry as much as i want to becasue i am in office rt now. but really marvellous. i loved it all through and the title was gorgeous.

Sumit said...

Thanks a lot, Neha. Actually, when I started writing, I didn't intend to let the girl die...but then, over a few sessions of writing...it just happened. :(

Piggy Little said...

no its ok. i thnk it is a more sensible and somehow realistic ending than letting her live. except that to be frank, it is really one of the usual love stories. bt u tell it beautifully. with so much of emotion. and yes, i agree, even girls cant get the emotion right most of the time. you are exceptional.

neha

Sumit said...

Thanks again! Yeah, I reckoned that a fairy tale romance happens only in wel...fairy tales. :)

I saw Sweet November after I thought of this story, so didn't write it for many months due to the similarity. In fact, a friend who chanced upon the rough draft insisted that I ought to write it..so here it is..