I is for Innocence
Except for one year when my parents split up, and the years I was away at grad school, I've lived my entire life beside the same cemetery. I've always enjoyed going for walks in it. (It never freaked me out the way it did some of my friends at sleep-over parties.) While most of the tombstones I look at with nothing more than idle curiosity or admire the workmanship, one category always inspires melancholy: the saddest tombstones in the cemetery are those with the lambs, for they mark the graves of children.
4 comments:
I am also a fan of cemetery touring. It is a real "reality/perspective check". Children's graves are always quite sad.
This one is a beautiful place to go for a walk or ride a bike. I've always thought of it like a park with more stones. ;)
Walking through old cemeteries is fascinating. I've visited ones in New York, North Carolina, and New Brunswick. (That I can remember off the top of my head.) When I was in North Carolina I registered for a slate carving course (a lot of eastern tombstones are slate), but it was cancelled due to insufficient interest. That really bummed me out. :(
I didn't realize the symbolism, must examine local tombstones more carefully.
Not all of the children's graves have them, but all that have them are children. I think it's the whole "the lord is my shepherd" and "come to me, little children" thing. But I could be wrong.
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