Ekphrasis Post

Today's challenge is to find a Flickr Image in Creative Commons that inspires me in some way (positively or negatively) and free write about it for 15 minutes. Brave bonus: Publish your free writing without editing!

Photo by ghayty

The caption that ghayty included with the above photo was:

"We must always have old memories and young hopes" (Arsene Houssaye)

I think that those living with chronic pain tend to try to hold tightly to their memories of a time without pain (or at least when it was more manageable). It can be difficult to come to terms with having to face life with chronic pain, and we shouldn't abandon our memories, but we mustn't live in (or stay in) our memories. We need to live in the moment. We can look toward the future... from where we are now, not where we'd hoped we would be. Our hopes from before the chronic pain may have to be changed or adapted... some may no longer be possible... but, we should continue having hope.

There's another quote that would work beautifully for this photo:

"God gave us memories that we might have roses in December" (J. M. Barry)

I love this quote. I absolutely love roses, and this quote paints such a lovely picture... roses in the cold, harsh winter months. Our memories are extremely powerful. They can bring us to tears, make us laugh, or otherwise re-live that moment.

In the photo above, the brightness of the roses beautifully contrast the black and white beneath them. I think it's important to remember that, even in the darkest times (e.g., pain, depression), there is always hope and beauty... if only we look.

This post was written as part of the National Health Blog Posting Month (NHBPM).