Thursday
Feb202014
Thursday, February 20, 2014 at 04:44AM
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A s l e e p
Capernaum Cemetery
Denmark, South Carolina
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How shall we praise the magnificence of the dead,
The great man humbled, the haughty brought to dust?
Is there a horn we should not blow as proudly
For the meanest of us all, who creeps his days,
Guarding his heart from blows, to die obscurely?
I am no king, have laid no kingdoms waste,
Taken no princes captive, led no triumphs
Of weeping women through long walls of trumpets;
Say rather, I am no one, or an atom;
Say rather, two great gods, in a vault of starlight,
Play ponderingly at chess, and at the game's end
One of the pieces, shaken, falls to the floor
And runs to the darkest corner; and that piece
Forgotten there, left motionless, is I ...
Say that I have no name, no gifts, no power,
Am only one of millions, mostly silent;
One who came with eyes and hands and a heart,
Looked on beauty, and loved it, and then left it.
Say that the fates of time and space obscured me,
Led me a thousand ways to pain, bemused me,
Wrapped me in ugliness; and like great spiders
Dispatched me at their leisure ... Well, what then?
Should I not hear, as I lie down in dust,
The horns of glory blowing above my burial?
From Tetelestai
~Conrad Aiken (1889-1973)~
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Jennifer | 3 Comments |
Reader Comments (3)
Beautiful...Capernaum Cemetery did yield some treasures. The excerpt from Tetelestai is just wonderful. Love it all!
@Glenda ... it was fairly splendid if VERY secluded and overrun with foliage. The cemetery proper (off road, behind some small rickety residences, down a dirt path) is basically a grove of live oaks that have grown canopies so large, in some places the tips of branches touch the ground. The recent storm caused a lot of damage as I think the ice was worse south of Columbia. So we were very careful as we picked our way around but if nothing else the blue horse, missing a leg but perched gamely atop a piece of fencing, was worth the whole trip. As for Tetelestai, I hope to visit the grave of Conrad Aiken again soon! Bonaventure, here we come. Let's pray the weather holds.
The blue horse on that fence was so special. And talking about your trip to visit Bonaventure, which is coming up very soon, when do you leave to go down there. Inquiring minds want to know. I mean "need" to know. So excited for you, albeit just a tad jealous! So, also what I want you to do while there is have your picture made sitting on Conrad Aiken's bench tombstone. Praying for perfect weather!