The gnomes had escaped again and it was mayhem in the moonlit garden centre. People just don’t realise that they can go on the rampage at any time, and customers tend to encourage them with cute comments like “I’d love to take that little guy home but there’s no room in the garden for any more ornaments!” Ornaments! Enough to make a gnome rampage. The urge to make a break for it had built up all day.
Their stony fingers hands grabbed whatever they could, forgetting the gnome motto, “to hurt is to steal”, or was it “to steal is to hurt”? They swarmed the checkout, where displays of chocolate awaited them, ripping off wrappings and dropping crumbs all over the till, knowing the staff would blame mice. In the morning, they would regret it, but in the meantime, they were out for fun.
Kim M. Russell, 9th June 2025
It’s Prosery Monday at the dVerse Poets Pub and Lisa is our host, following in Björn’s footsteps with a line from some of U2’s lyrics.
Prosery is a dVerse invention, a piece of prose of no more than 144 words which is inspired by a given line of poetry (or song lyric) and which must be included in the prose without adding or taking away any words in between. However, punctuation may be changed or added.
Lisa says that Bono, main writer and lead singer of the Irish Band U2, is a man who knows his way around a potent song lyric. From U2’s seventh studio album, Achtung Baby, ‘Mysterious Ways’ is the eighth of twelve tracks. The line that intrigued Lisa, and which she chose for this prompt, is “to hurt is to steal”.
writing in north norfolk 
Kim thanks for the huge chuckle. I will have to be very careful what I say around the gnomes in the garden shoppe from now on!
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I’m glad I made you chuckle, Lisa!
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❤
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Loved it… but to be called an ornament must be hurtful to anyone…
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Thanks Björn. In some parts of the UK it’s quite common to insult someone by calling them ‘neither use nor ornament’!
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Ha! Very cleverly done, rompous fun! I very much like you spun the line around, it added to the ruckage…
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Thanks Ain!
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Now we know who to blame. Thanks for the chuckle!
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Thanks for reading and commenting, Nolcha!
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Gno-m-ore rumpus tonight:
To boldly rampage
around the till and in the sage;
to eat the chocolate in thyme
for sunrise, though be held in rhyme
from an oregano idea by Kim, inspired by Li and U2
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Your gnome rhyme made me chuckle, Kathy, and a great play on words!
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Ha clever piece of prose. Honestly, who would want to be called an ornament. I can just see them running around causing a bit of mayhem.
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Thank you, Truedessa.
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What a fun write Kim! Excellent as always
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Thanks so much Stew!
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Fun, indeed! This reminds me of the stories of the Little People Gone Wild during the filming of The Wizard of Oz. I’m sure the motivation was the same – to shed the feelings that the hurtful comments created and recover their agency over their own lives. #TeamGnome !
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I’m so pleased you enjoyed my little story, Kim. We have two sleeping gnomes in our garden, but they are nothing like the traditional ones – more like the ones you find in fairy tales.
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I like that they have a secret life!
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How we often, don’t realize the adverse effect of our, actions, that it may, have, a huge impact on someone else…
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True.
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“The Gnome Motto” oh how I loved those three words and how they could not keep the motto straight. I enjoyed your post and I need to find me a good gnome.
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Thank you, Helen, and I hope you find your gnome. 😊
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Well a note of caution on the gnome front then! I once nicked my sister’s gnome and took all over the state and sent her photos, such fun, I think that gnome enjoyed the trip. You raise a laugh, loved this.
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Thank you! I’ve seen a travelling gnome before, Paul, and love it!
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