On the Road to Falmouth

 

Here, gathered lives rest

beyond the wall, in the earth

where speckled tablets stand 

embedded and embossed

memories of breath’s end

Infants and sages lie marrowless 

earth-warm beneath the traveling leaves,

crusty snow, and pounding rains 

archived remains in situ

mythically thrust into the Shawme

From continent to colony to commonwealth,

events like frantic shadows drift above the 

the soft sleepy contours hiding the 

stilled reality of completed lives

Born of dead ice 

this landing of souls, this landing of dust 

holds the weary and the prosperous 

the careless and the thoughtful

the knavish and the obedient

...they are with us still.

NOTE: These words were written years after a visit to the Old Town Cemetery in Sandwich, MA. Founded in 1639, it is the oldest town on Cape Cod.