“You long to be reunited with your loved ones. It’s understandable. If you are in dire need of their touch, kiss the ground, for that is where they have returned.”
When I wrote this dialogue for a female protagonist, Genevieve Riley, I immediately started going through my resources to see where I have heard it before or, at the very least, something similar to it. When I write, I always try to be organic and stay away from coming off as derivative. After a little bit of digging with no success, I stopped.
I started thinking that maybe I have used it in another story. So I looked through all of my work, again nothing. I decided to highlight this dialogue and attach a visual to it later on.
I have to call this one subconscious inspiration because it finally dawned on me where I’ve heard something similar, The bible!
Genesis 3:19
“In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return unto the ground, for out of it wast thou taken; for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.”
It definitely comes from the same vein, that is for sure.
Anyway, when I was writing this moment in the story for this character, it was a culmination of events. Genevieve had just faced something inevitable and garnered much respect as a result. It was one of those moments where you hang on for the person’s next words, just waiting for him/her to wrap it up with something memorable. I needed her to show compassion for all of the people involved but also refuse to equivocate.
With this response, her thought process was to be inspirational and to show empathy, ultimately letting her people know that their departed loved ones are never really gone.
I feel the quote from her speaks volumes of truths as I agree that our dearly departed loved ones are never really gone.
If you agree send me a like!
Thanks for reading!
Travis
Travis J. McRoy 