Dreams Of a River by Wormwood

[wormwood_7]

Author:  Wormwood
Title: Dreams Of a River
Rating: G
Theme: Believe it or not
Elements: Uncanny
Summary: Who is dreaming who? With Faramir, Barahir and Boromir etc.
Author's Notes: The use of rope soaked in wine and sugar is a real method for attracting moths.
Word Count: 2090 words

Comments

[armarielrozita]

Lovely, haunting, poignant and unusual. Very beautiful imagery throughout.

[wormwood_7]

Thank you for your kind and generous comment! And for taking the time to read and telling me that you liked it :)

[curiouswombat]

That's beautiful, and perfect for this time of year.

[wormwood_7]

Thank you! I find autumn a good time for writing and I guess the season flavours the outcome. Thanks for reading and commenting :)

[thunderatiger]

This has such a wonderfully unsettled feeling. I think part of it comes from the fact that nothing in this story can possibly be nailed down. You start in those untamed descriptions of both Eowyn and her garden, and then there are the moths that seem to steadily increase in number. But it's never certain what they are or who they might represent. Not completely. Faramir's regrets about the loss of Barahir's mother add another depth to the story and create a kinship between the two that seems to only deepen the mystery, because Barahir's own night terrors are unexplained. The closing notes of the story have a haunting and wistful feeling, and we're left to wonder as to who was really doing the dreaming. Beautiful and unsettling!

[wormwood_7]

Thank you for your thoughtful comment! The element was uncanny, and that is what I went for, even perhaps overstating the uncannyness somewhat. I wanted to give a feeling of the fabric of reality being fragile and uncertain. A dream within a dream within a dream if you like, and not just pleasant dreams either. Thanks for taking the time to read and comment :)

[dreamflower02]

Oh this was indeed uncanny! And Faramir was the perfect character for this long journey, that seemed to be a mixture of dreaming and foresight, between waking and sleep-- the mood is so poignant...

I also love the connection you make between Faramir and Barahir, and the metaphor of the moths...

[wormwood_7]

I wanted to create a mood of a blurred border between dream and reality, a mood that somehow suits Faramir.
I am glad you liked the moths. I have used the belief found in some places, from Ireland to Japan, of butterflies as carriers of men's souls and dreams, and transferred it to the moths.
Thanks for reading and for taking the time to comment!

[clodia_metelli]

Eowyn's garden full of moths and memories, ghosts dreaming the living, how Eowyn and Faramir, both battle-scarred, complemented each other, Faramir's final departure, the beautiful imagery and the line, //Death sits with the mother next door// ... this is lovely, as ever, and so hauntingly fragile (like the baby Barahir) in its beauty. Thank you!

[wormwood_7]

Ghosts dreaming the living... You have picked up so much of what I wanted to say in this story. Which is wonderful because I always worry I am being too obscure. It is a family tale in a way, and families are both fragile and durable.
Thank you for your lovely and very perceptive comment, as always :)