The Graveyard

Classicmister

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

 

 

  • Author: Classicmister (Offline Offline)
  • Published: February 23rd, 2021 12:26
  • Category: Unclassified
  • Views: 33
  • Users favorite of this poem: arobot
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Comments +

Comments2

  • orchidee

    A sensitive write C.

    • Classicmister

      Thanks for your comment orchidee .... I chose a bit of morbid subject this time!

    • Goldfinch60

      Very good moving words Classicmister, especially that last stanza.

      Andy

      • Classicmister

        Thank you Goldfinch - I should add that I made up all the names and tributes though they reflect the words that were on the tombstones which I read on a walk in the local churchyard last week.

        • Goldfinch60

          Many years ago my wife and I were walking through a cemetery up in Yorkshire and on one of the tombstones was “Fred Smith, farmer of this parish. A man of strong resolve.” That made me smile.

          Andy



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