Saturday, July 16, 2011

Phebe Jane, Clarissa, Rebecca, Allice, Olive, Nancy

My daughter and I walked among the women on the hill, where they rest in the sunshine, hot sunshine buzzing with flying things, rest from their housekeeping, the washing and washing up, the clearing away and folding, the stacking of platters. I took away, when I left, a hundred questions: for which the shameful secret, the secret love; for which the nerves and headaches; for which the murdered child; for which the bottle; for which a sheaf of letters never out of mind; for which the locked box, full of pennies saved toward a leave-taking?

The soil stirs, still warm, under their names.










































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15 comments:

Brian Miller said...

nice...i grew up by a graveyard used to walk among the names...heck we used to play there as kids...

Nancy said...

With you, I wonder about the lives of my ancestors who lie below the gravestones. Sometimes we learn a little but it's always such a little compared to a whole life lived. Great photos and post, Leah. Thanks.

Little Nell said...

A shiver, a shudder, a thought-provoking post!

Snowbrush said...

Your text is more poetry than pose. As for your old photos, like the gravestones, they are reminders of that which no longer exists.

Postcardy said...

Those are nice old-fashioned names on the old gravestones.

Anonymous said...

Oh dear ...

Jimmy said...

The dexterity of description goes before you once again Leah. The last line... as near to perfection as it gets.

Where others, so unseeing, read only at a glimpse, I can taste each feeling as they take control of your pen.

The Mistress said...

There's always something to discover in a cemetery.

I'm exploring Mount Royal Cemetery in Montreal next weekend.

Alan Burnett said...

Astonishing how images can be so poetic and words can be so visual. Masterful.

Bob Scotney said...

When I read your post the last thing I was expecting was to see gravstones. Now I must check out the local churchyard.

Christine H. said...

Beautifully done!

Kristin said...

I love to walk among the gravestones and wonder too. Nice post.

Bruno Laliberté said...

reading your prose, i suddenly felt warmer, and it is hot enough already here...

evocative...
nice.
more?
(yeah, i'm a man of a few words...)
:)~
HUGZ

Doctor FTSE said...

Great writing to compliment your photos.

Pat said...

Graveyards are so much more comforting than cemeteries but I want to be scattered to the four winds. Later on.