Énouement – 16th August 2025

~ shaun tenzenmen

The past is a room seen from outside,
with a one-way door, immovable;
I tried to whisper across the divide
but my truths then were not provable.

I watched the days wearing thin,
exchanged for worries worn on my brow;
Choosing to let so little light in
until knowing the things I know now.

My story, at last, has been laid flat
by the wisdom I’ve accumulated;
of discovery I was always where I was at
and feeling so frustrated.

All along I held the design,
as flawed as it may have been;
All the sorrows are still mine
now I’ve seen all the things I’ve seen.

Written for the W3 weekly prompt #172 using the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Énouement n.
the bittersweetness of having arrived here in the future, finally learning the answers to how things turned out but being unable to tell your past self.

French énouer, to pluck defective bits from a stretch of cloth + dénouement, the final part of a story, in which all the threads of the plot are drawn together and everything is explained. Pronounced “ey-noo-mahn.”

16 thoughts on “Énouement – 16th August 2025”

  1. Shaun, I like this one – I think you’ve explained it perfectly! It is a universal experience to wish to let the former self know what life has taught us and it is always impossible!! Bravo!

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    1. Thanks so much! 🙏 I think it is why I am thinking about my past so much, and actually looking at it through a rosier lens because I know I didn’t enjoy so much at the time.

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  7. I am very similar with time-travel of future and trying to communicate the future with your past self. Will the past me listen? can I do something to change things now? Be aware and stay away from certain situations? Now, this poem of yours made me think. Thought-provoking for sure. I love this one, my friend. 🙂

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    1. Thanks Charlie 🙏

      Would the past me listen? Undoubtedly not.

      It makes me consider how I try to guide my students along a better path so that they can discover things for themselves. I guess my students have taken the place of the past me.

      All those wise folks trying to tell me of a better way when I was a child were actually the future me delivering my message!

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