Eleanor Rigby

by michaelcahill

I doubt there's any warmth coming off this candle, Mom. The chill from my heart is surely making for a cold flame. I missed your little service today, everybody did. Father Mackenzie spoke anyway, he always does. People are here now, the usual folks from who knows where. The candles are pretty I must admit.

My mother, Eleanor Rigby, the town lush … is it any wonder I changed my name? You were just as dead to me as a seven-year-old as you are now. Hell, even the state thought me better off with strangers.

Here I kneel, right where you breathed your last whiskey-scented breath. Why here, Mom? Forgiveness? Redemption? I can't redeem you--that certainly isn't my area of expertise. Forgiveness would take a bit more of a man than I've grown to be.

So, I've lit a candle. That's what we do when people die. Sometime after we leave, the candle burns out. The blessing for us is we don't have to stay and watch.

Look at all the lonely people, Mom. Where do they all come from? Where do they all belong? I guess the same place I do, that's why we're here.

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Choose One Of The Following Titles writing prompt entry

Writing Prompt
Here we go again! This time the prompt is inspired by hits from The Beatles!

Choose one of the following titles.

Where does it take you?

Get writing: poem, fiction, essay, whatever you like!
200 words maximum word count.

Can't Buy Me Love
I Feel Fine
Yesterday
Paperback Writer
Eleanor Rigby
Hello, Goodbye
Come Together
The Long and Winding Road
Let it Be

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I took a little poetic license and just used the song as an inspiration for my little short story. Not enough words for anything too complex. :)) I hope the spirit of the song still comes through.

Eleanor Rigby

Ah look at all the lonely people
Ah look at all the lonely people

Eleanor Rigby, picks up the rice
In the church where a wedding has been
Lives in a dream
Waits at the window, wearing the face
That she keeps in a jar by the door
Who is it for

All the lonely people
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people
Where do they all belong?

Father McKenzie, writing the words
Of a sermon that no one will hear
No one comes near
Look at him working, darning his socks
In the night when there's nobody there
What does he care

All the lonely people
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people
Where do they all belong?

Ah look at all the lonely people
Ah look at all the lonely people

Eleanor Rigby, died in the church
And was buried along with her name
Nobody came
Father McKenzie, wiping the dirt
From his hands as he walks from the grave
No one was saved

All the lonely people
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people
Where do they all belong?

Songwriters: LENNON, JOHN / MCCARTNEY, PAUL

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Short Story

Eleanor Rigby

by michaelcahill

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