Topic Post - April, Week Four: Epilogue

[ricochey]

 Welcome to Week Four! Acts I, II, and III are now behind us, and it is time to conclude your tales. Today, I launch this topic at precisely 0626MST (that’s 0826 CDT, as I was born in Iowa), in honor of the exact moment of my birth, on this day, twenty-eight years ago. I was even born on a Sunday. Let’s talk topic! Remember, April is a themed month, so if you need help understanding the goal, visit this link to read the preamble I presented before the prompt for Week One. We can also address questions in the comments, if you need a little clarification. To put it basically, we are dividing up the four weeks of April into four parts of a “play” (the entries do not have to be plays): ACT I, ACT II, ACT III, and Epilogue. Visit the aforementioned link for specifics!

 

Are you ready for a deliberately contradictory quote to round off the month?

 

 

Epilogue – “What is past is prologue.”

 

The last lines of dialog are spoken, the last gestures are made; the lights dim slowly as the curtain glides with a soft finality toward the stage. The production seems to have come to an end. Then, a lone figure crosses from stage right to stands beneath a center stage spotlight to speak into the otherwise darkened theater. The epilogue — defined as “a concluding section that rounds out the design of a literary work” — brings closure to what has been seen here, and the audience sighs, soothed by the final resolution of the evening.
 

 

I enjoy epilogues. A poweful, distinctive last moment before the true end of a tale. I realize there is a generally accepted definition of a prologue as aforementioned, but I feel as though they can take many shapes. Truly, there may be myriad ways to reinvent and re-imagine the concept of the “final words”. Because I am nowhere near the closing and final thoughts of my life, I will share a classic bit of epilogue instead, from the very mind of the artist we have spent the month quoting and celebrating.
 

 

”If we shadows have offended,

Think but this, and all is mended,

That you have but slumber’d here

While these visions did appear.

And this weak and idle theme,

No more yielding but a dream,

Gentles, do not reprehend:

if you pardon, we will mend:

And, as I am an honest Puck,

If we have unearned luck

Now to ‘scape the serpent’s tongue,

We will make amends ere long;

Else the Puck a liar call;

So, good night unto you all.

Give me your hands, if we be friends,

And Robin shall restore amends.”

 

In the tradition of A Midsummer Night’s Dream’s Puck, and in whatever format you desire, spin me a conclusion to your tale worthy of quotation. I challenge you to a concluding thought, scene, or stream of consciousness so powerful, it will ring in my mind for weeks to come. Interpret this as you will, and write what you must.

 

 

Remember that entries are meant to complement one another as a series, and that the concepts of “Epilogue”, Puck’s Epilogue, and the Shakespearean quote provided are for inspiration and do not necessarily represent a requirement for content or word use.
 

 

The poll is here. Week Four closes at 2345EDT on Sunday, May 3rd.