In ordered ranks they stand
Stone edifices to the ones departed
And remembered by the words of tribute
Etched in enduring granite or flaking slate
Some words pristine and some obscured by lichen
Concealing ancient tributes to the dead
Some plots lovingly adorned with springtime flowers
And objects evocative of the one passed on
And others to a child or infant taken early
“Alice
Taken after four days
So Small, So Sweet, So Soon
Forever in our thoughts
Mummy and Daddy”
Some in tribute to those who’d run their earthly course
“ Reginald Hargreaves aged 76
Beloved father, husband and granddad
Doris Hargreaves aged 93
Much-loved mother, wife and granny
Together again”
Beneath the churchyard Yew
A toppled headstone
Fallen but not in battle as the one beneath
“Harold Robinson
Aged 21
Captain in the Royal Fusiliers
Fell at the Battle of the Somme
2ndAugust 1914
Think well of me
Now I am gone
For now the world is dark
Where once the sun had shone
Mother and Father”
A stooped and elderly woman
Passes along the headstone ranks
Carrying a watering can and a potted geranium
Intent on tending her recently departed husband’s plot
She gains some comfort from the fleeting
Nearness to her departed spouse
The memories of a happy life are for a while rekindled
She will visit every day until her turn arrives
The vacant plot that runs along the rustic fence
Has now been freshly taken
With funeral flowers now withering
On the earthen mound awaiting its tombstone
Which will read when once in place
“David Thompson
Aged 82
Beloved husband father and grandpa
Taken by the Covid virus”
21stDecember 2020