Shrieks pierce my chest. I move quickly and lift you from your crib. We settle in the nursing chair.
The aching weight of you sags my arms. Silence cloaks the witching hour. We’re a raft lost at sea, a flame floating on an ocean of black. You latch on while I sing a lullaby so low it’s barely a whisper. Your head has an earthy heaviness.
Your hot milky smell, as delicate as a moth’s wing, envelopes us. Protects us. My eyes droop, my bones ache, but I hold on, still as the moon, wanting to keep this moment forever.
***
This piece was written for the Friday Fictioneers hosted by the lovely Rochelle Wisoff-Fields – Addicted to Purple.
Each week a photo prompt is given and the challenge is write a flash fiction piece of no more than one hundred words.
Find other Friday Fictioneer stories here.
That’s beautiful. I love the title and that image of a mother an child as a bubble of light in the darkness – just gorgeous Jennifer
Thanks so much Lynn 🙂
My pleasure
Wonderful, a tender moment caught, expressing both the love and the effort involved.
Thanks Iain! 🙂
I love the moment you saw in the prompt, and the descriptions with which you rendered it
Thank you Neil 🙂
So beautifully and perfectly described, Jennifer… I did love that time with my boys…
Thanks very much Dale 😊
You’ve given us so many delights in this story. I think my favourite is “Your hot milky smell, as delicate as a moth’s wing, envelopes us,” where the blending of smell and touch gives a powerful effect. And almost as exquisite, “but I hold on, still as the moon,” Lovely, poetic writing – just gorgeous!
Thanks so much Penny! What a wonderful, thoughtful comment. Every writer’s dream.
I echo Penny’s comments. Beautiful language, so descriptive and powerful.
Thanks Russell 🙂
This one speaks to an exhausted mom, loving her child with such a great intensity that it doesn’t matter how tired she is, she gets up to feed her baby. Brought back floods of memories.
Thanks Linda 🙂
Beautiful imagery. The spirit of hope for future so well captured.
Thanks so much!
No one knows the night so well as a nursing mom with her baby. Private moments tenderly and beautifully portrayed.
Thank you.
Great imagery. A very beautiful, well-told story.
Thanks Lisa.
Memory-inducing and gorgeous writing. Prose poetry. Lovely.
Thank you! 🙂
Dear Jennifer,
This is simply breathtaking. To say more is to spoil the moment. <3
Shalom,
Rochelle
Wow! Thank you Rochelle! My dream comment. 🙂