Resting Place. – Tim Veater

Posted on May 12, 2014 by Admin

 Resting Place. – Tim Veater

I know this is not a poetry site, so I hope you will forgive me for posting this

one, written a few years ago in a nearby Cornish churchyard. It attempts to

contrast the transitory nature of our lives with the issues that concern us – a

philosophical anti-dote to what we discover here.

“Resting Place” by Tim Veater.

I sat amidst the serried ranks of grey

Flecked granite polished stone

Smooth shaped and etched in black

Recording names and dates and epitaphs

Of those who didn’t make it through the night.

Hard those beds where now they sleep,

All facing east, towards in faith, a grand awakening.

A faint reflection of long faded years,

Obscured by unlettered, lichened time.

Human obsessions buried deep.

Names that ring bells and awaken misted memories,

When young and vibrant in hope,

They snatched landscaped snippets here and there,

Emotions sea-gulling in their wake

Some stapled to our memory.

Oft appears the symbol of the cross

Or something more elaborate

But mostly, just blank stone or slate

Upon which, inscribed in just a few unleaded words

We view a distillate evaporate.

Where partners separated, catch up,

And grief itself is cured.

And all the love and loss,

The freezing cold and scalding heat,

Is united in a sentiment of love and peace.

Pauper anonymous, on timber cross,

Lies unconcerned by fate or etiquette,

Adjacent to a Lady You Know, Who,

Speaking beyond the grave says not goodnight

But in some fairer clime, bids us good morning.

Meanwhile, a large black sexton crow

Waddles unperturbed amidst the sward

And swallows dart, like spirits,

Betwixt, between, the never-fading yew

On eternal care-free wings, a-twittering.