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MARY
Wife of Samuel Harris
Died
Jan. 23, 1863.
In the 73d year
of her age.
CEMETERY REFLECTIONS: What would the sleeping generations tell us about living? What would we go back and tell ourselves?
~Don't be afraid to touch, physically and figuratively. The distance bridged will be far more vast than the space your fingers reached.
11 comments:
I'm convinced they would tell us how trivial the worries and cares of this world are and how fleeting our time upon this earth. I think they would say we should live every moment and love the ones we love every moment we have breath.
By the way, Spoon River Anthology is still one of my favorites.
I love old cemeteries because of the speculation they cause. Thanks for this.
I typically find cemetaries rather comforting. Especially old ones.
It's wonderful to see this series again. :)
I'm not sure what they'd come back and tell us, what I would tell myself. I can see how the uncertainty of living could transform into a kind of pure conviction with life's passing, though. Maybe death brings an essential clarity to things that haunt us during life. There is nothing to fear anymore.
But I believe in your thoughts here. :) Beautifully said, Jason.
We probably wouldn't understand what they told us and they certainly wouldn't understand what we told them.
I would probably just tell myself to cherish it. I'd also probably tell myself how much time I had left so I would cherish it.
Paul
Karen, fleeting time and retrospection...I'm with you.
Charles, that would be a fascinating study on why. Perhaps we are comforted by the hard evidence that our memories will endure.
Sarah, perhaps it's a worthwhile effort to bring a bit of that clarity forward. At the end of life, we've lost the ability to choose differently.
Paul, if an older version of me ever shows up at my door, I'm listening religiously to every syllable!
I would go back and tel myself as i shrugged "Kid you lived and then you died, nothing more to it than that."
I love your last phrase that Mary wrote in your mind. I think that might be a place I'm in now. I think the dead would say:
Don't be afraid to set challenges for yourself, to set out to go beyond your comfort zone, and don't be discouraged by the clumsy steps you take at the beginning, just keep walking.
Enjoy simple pleasures, and be with the people you hold dear, as much as possible, everyday of your life.
Walking Man, would you be telling yourself, in a way, to let go?
Catvibe, hurray for those challenges! What are we, really, without them? And also hurray for the nobility of making a difference.
Kaye, I can see how important it is to remind yourself every day that time is a gift. Every moment.
We all like to think they would reveal some stunning wisdom or magic elixir for life, but I know from experience that they say Everything is okay. Sometimes they add I love you.
ver: lyzin
I swear I'm not. It's the truth!
strangely true.. this is where i find solace and absolute peace.
Unfortunately, it's only a luxury the dead can afford.
I like your thoughts and writings.
~Silver
(from Reflections /One Day at a Time)
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