Choices

“Stop weeping°, she heard. She quickly wiped her eyes. What is wrong with tears of joy”, she thought? They were so rare. She rehearsed the miracles. The events of the day surely were miraculous. No human could have planned or timed them so perfectly.

But what is wrong with tears? She sat in silence as she regained a posture of composure.

Tears look the same, whether joyous or sorrowful. There is a time for each, but a time to stop. There is no need for more oceans or rivers, or puddles. There is only need to work and continue life in the next moment, lest an opportunity slip through opaque vision.

“No, I do not weep at the world – I am too busy sharpening my oyster knife.”

Compassion stronger than pity, belief more than wonderment, a pearl ready, waits to shine again and again.

Dversepoets.com Monday Prosery and poetry together.

No, I do not weep at the world – I am too busy sharpening my oyster knife. How Does it Feel to be Colored Me” in World Tomorrow 1928 by Zora Neale Hurston

From the National Women’s History Museum:
Zora Hurston (b.1891-d.1960) was a world-renowned writer and anthropologist. Hurston’s novels, short stories, and plays often depicted African American life in the South. Her work in anthropology examined black folklore. Hurston influenced many writers, forever cementing her place in history as one of the foremost female writers of the 20th century.
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Your challenge, if you choose to accept it, is to incorporate the above quote into a piece of prose. This can be either flash fiction, nonfiction, or creative nonfiction, but it must be prose! Not prose poetry, and not a poem. And it must be no longer than 144 words, not including the title. (It does not have to be exactly 144 words, but it can’t exceed 144 words.

Timely and personal, my prosery is exactly 144 words, excluding the title.