6/17/15

Writing Wednesday: Poem

For my class, we have to polish two pieces of writing.  I am thinking that this will be one of mine.  I am looking for some feedback on this piece.  Do you like it? Does it makes sense? Are there parts that are confusing or need revising?  What are you favorite parts?  Thanks for your input, and enjoy.

Cemetery Contemplation
I sit feet away from a baby girl
Who died about three months before I was born.
I wonder what she would have been like today.
            Would we have been friends?

I sit yards away from an open tomb
That waits for its occupant to arrive today.
Whose partner has waited for nearly thirty three years
To meet his sweetheart again.
I wonder what that reunion would be like today.
            Would seeing it comfort the broken hearts of those who lost
                        Mom, sister, or grandma today?

I scan the hundreds of worn and weathered headstones
Each of them representing a person
Each a person who was important to somebody
I wonder if those memories begin to also fade with time.
            Will we all one day be forgotten?

I see flowers and trinkets
on or near many of the headstones
Only the most recent have such tokens
I wonder about those who leave such tokens.
            Will their hearts ever be mended?

I realize that this place is for us; the living
Here we come to remember and to reflect
It’s not for them; the dead are not here
I wonder if they ever look down on their own graves.
            Would they find our rituals strange and out of place?

I notice the walls that surround this place
Separating this place from the outside world
Allowing us to leave that world for a moment
To feel the peace and the quiet of this place
To reflect about what we are doing here
About the fact that we will one day die
I wonder about that day for me
            Will I be scared?

I reflect on what is truly important
Those flowers and trinkets mean nothing to the dead
But the people who visit and those who now rest matter
I wonder who will one day visit my future grave.

            Will they know I loved them enough?