It's Still Life

Brigid’s Diary: Prologue

Brigid’s Diary: Prologue — 12 November 1830
Note: Set before the dated pages that follow.

We left England before the crows could count us, a small arithmetic of breath and bread. The field-reapers and threshers learned new names for old hungers; men with clean hands arrived asking who tended the sick, the broken — the hows, the wheres.

Felreil walked beside me like weather in a black coat, and said only Now. And the word branded the weight of danger — enough for us to cross water to France.

I watched the coast fall away and wore it under my tongue where prayers keep their salt, while he wore it where oaths warm the wrist.

If this diary survives me, let it be known: I did not flee the land, but the lie it told itself — may we be unmarked, and true to the fire that sent us.

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Note: The Swing Riots (1830–1835) were agrarian uprisings across southern England. Afterward, the countryside did not return to peace. Parish authorities began to criminalise informal healers and midwives, especially women working outside church-sanctioned charity. Herbalists, midwives, and “witches” were increasingly accused of inciting unrest, blamed for livestock sickness or failed harvests, and reported under new Poor Law scrutiny (1834).

Written for Denise’s Six Sentence Story including the word “brand”.  Photo is not AI; it’s mine. Imagery and poems/prose ©Misky 2006-2026.