The Weep After Death

Just standing. Waiting for the inevitable. The fractured, crystalised colours fluctuating under the rays of the sun on my atramentous suit. My eyes start skimming the ground for any lost souls screaming, nothing. No reflection. Specks of microscopic dust everywhere. The bland, cold stone walls emphasising the emptiness in death. I bring myself to lift my head, the hard wooden pews standing side by side in what seem to be perfect rows. The gentle reflection of the fluctuating colours are one of the only things I feel in my eyes, other than that, emptiness. This is like nothing I’ve experienced before. No thoughts, simply a blank mind.

Within a split-second my mind starts contemplating what could’ve happened. Why he would have done this. A sheer act of desperation to escape from the world. My dear friend, his own son, suffering from the unforgettable and monumental act of his death. How could he have done something like this to him. His death couldn’t have been the only way out. His last memory, before the icy water swept away all traces of air in his now vacant lungs, the cool waters forcing him down, with no way to escape….

It seemed like I was running. Running from what truly scares me, even though I knew my feet were firmly glued to the ground. Continuously trying to search for any singular aspect of balance and security in life, but I simply cannot find anything, everything felt utterly non-existent in this vast world. I feel like I’m alone, although I can hear the distraught sniffles from every direction, bouncing off the walls, surmising why God does such things. And then, as if nothing worse could be piled on, the sound of the midnight blue box, gently banging against the cool stone cobbled floor.

The raindrop that once greeted my face, splashes against my pitch black, empty tie, disappearing instantly in the sea of escape. Everything crumbling around me as I summon all the strength in my body to see my dear friend standing there. So far away, yet so close by.

Everyone in this building seems as lifeless as a statue. But then, the most distinctive and unblemished sight comes from the doorway. My friends usually joyous and mirthful eyes turned into dark crystals of pure sadness, giving way to the unforgettable. It seems as though the sobs and memories of his bygone father punched right through him, tearing apart any strength in his bones, muscles and guts. Broken. Everything that seemed dear to him, gone.

My sight deflects from him, the raindrop that once greeted my face now joined by so many more. Never did I think someone could look so lost and hopeless within. I gather all I have left within, trying to be strong for my dear friend. Just as the church organ starts churning out the songs of death. I turn to see a firm yet comforting hand on my friend's shoulder.

Seconds later, as the church bells ring through the entire town and with the salty remains of tears still on people's faces, the midnight blue box gets heaved up into the air. My blurred vision losing it in a wave of six soul crushing colours gathered around him.

The sailor, the best friend and father of my dear friend, gone, sunken into the ground.

Word count: 560

Rationale:

In the melancholic short story, “The Weep after Death”, the lugubrious eyes of the author displays the dear grief-stricken friend mourning over his recently departed father. Through the injection of imagery and literary techniques used in the short story, the difficulty of expressing the disconsolate and discombobulated emotions to those who suffer from loss is exposed.

Written in the first person, “The Weep after Death” gives an ensight how the author feels the difficulty to withhold the emotions felt after loss. More importantly however, through using the first person, the author simultaneously elucidates how others, specifically the dear-friend, express the emotions of loss in a heavy-hearted manner.

By evoking the negative visual imagery of the dear friend, the author promotes the difficulty of expressing the disconsolated emotions felt and how the emotions change after experiencing loss. Instead of the “usually joyous and mirthful eyes”, the friend’s eyes “turned into dark crystals of pure sadness”, emphasising the difficulty of suffering from loss. A further example of the use of negative visual imagery is how the author carries the “salty remains of tears” in his eyes, resulting in the coffin being lost in a “wave of six soul crushing colours”. This exemplifies the grief being expressed by those who experienced loss and how the pallbearer’s atramentous suits intensify the difficulty of suffering from loss.

Furthermore, through personifying how the dear-friend’s “sobs and memories of his bygone father punched right through him, tearing apart any strength in his bones, muscles and guts”, the author shows how these inflicted emotions put strain on those affected by loss. Thus ultimately displaying that those who suffer from loss have an inflated sense of insecurity, knowing that nothing can be done to prevent death, whilst displaying how heavy the emotions are.

The reader’s attention is drawn to the theme through the use of setting. Surrounded by the “cold stone walls” that emphasises “the emptiness in death”, the “hard wooden pews”, and the “cool stone cobbled floor”, the author clarifies that the emotionless and cold colours in the surroundings of the characters add to the difficulty of suffering through the emotions which accompany loss. This is further exemplified by the “specks of microscopic dust everywhere”. The dust is used to symbolise the damage that loss has created a feeling of insecurity, as if the whole world were to start breaking down, ultimately showing the difficulty of trying to express the emotions of loss.

Finally, the solemn and pensive tone used by the author emphasises how the characters within the story are wrestling with the emotions they suffer from. Through the use of phrases such as, “the church organs starts churning out the songs of death” and “forcing him down, with no way to escape….” the author's emphasises how the use of a cold and distant tone adds to how the characters express their emotions.

Word Count: 476