I do not come from this place -
though the sea-chanty of its' name
speaks my distant heart.
I have come to look
and wonder
at fourteen gravestones
in a church yard
where some serendipity
of interrupted migration
from northern ports
placed my surname
upon these Virginian stones.
Dates on headstones stretch
from the Revolution
to my twenty-fifth birthday,
both long past.
Are some of their sons
buried unknown
at Antietam,
dead
at the hands of their northern-born kinsmen?
The dogwood
must be prolific
upon that field.
It is May, and the scent
of dogwood in bloom;
semi-sweet,
somewhere between sandlewood and jasmine,
kindles memory.
From out the church door –
that incongruous building with
Saxon tower on solid Lutheran architecture -
floats the arpeggio
of a well-played mountain dulcimer.
The Shaker tune?
Perhaps a variation
of Copeland’s Appalachian Spring;
or Carter’s Lord of the Dance?
All one and the same air
as I recall.
It is leaping music,
fit for praise and resurrection,
in this graveyard
of my distant southern branch,
burried under dogwood
in the Shenandoah.
Author notes
Re-written July 16, 09
Surprises from a geneology search on the Internet.
See also, "Airs and Simple Gifts", from President Obama’s inauguration.
The Battle of Antietam (also known as the Battle of Sharpsburg), was fought on September 17, 1862, near Sharpsburg, Maryland.
Comments
1 - 16 of 16
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WOW this is amazing, I been trying to do mine for years and getting a little informatin here and there. So I pretty much identify with your poem thank you, I really enjoyed this.
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Goldeneye,
Thanks for the read and comments. I hope you enjoy your search. Even some of the black-sheep can be interesting, if distant enough.
JG
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It is amazing what one finds when they dig into their genealogy. I've discovered relatives in South Carolina that previously I had no idea about. I really enjoy this piece, in particular, but not limited to the third stanza. An excellent write my friend.
Rory
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Hello Rory,
And I have surname relatives in Canada, Ireland and Scotland. 6 degrees of separation leads to surpising finds indeed.
Thanks for visiting.
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A nice writer. It tells the story you're trying to tell and does just about that. I wouldn't grovel and say that it's spectacular in any sense but it certainly is effective. As you grow as a writer I'm sure you'll find the way to tell your stories and add more substance to it. Good luck in the future.
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Awesome unique write based on historical past..Brilliantly crafted and thought out...Most delightful to read...Descriptive imagery makes this piece an most masterful of a scribing!
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Thank you Rose. Would you believe I was actually about to edit the poem again just as you commented? A few words, and some lines rearranged now. Ho,ho. It seems I have distant relies in Ontario as well as Virginia. What will the Internet reveal next?
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well done
Flows well. Has very evocative imagery and a simplicity that touches the inner self.
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You have some wonderful imagery and voice in this poem.
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Wow! You bowled me over with this one, having grown up in Virginia. It is both evocative and thoughtful. Quite an impressive write. Your nom de plume doesn't sound Virginian though!
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Made me feel nostalgic. . .
You are on my Favorites list and reading this beautifully-expressed poem reminds me why.
I've lived in the southern U.S. for 12 years, visited small cemeteries such as the one you describe, and loved and played the mountain dulcimer during the folk music era of the sixties and seventies. I also sang and played Shaker songs, so I feel a personal connection with the poem.
I like the serenity, as well as the gentle, flowing rhythm, of the lines and words you use to capture the moment. The backdrop of dogwood and architecture add to the mood of the poem and bring color to what could otherwise be a rather gray and depressing scene. MoonLady
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Wow, this is great, I like this piece a lot - it is so evocative of another time and definitely captures the tone of "Simple Gifts" and a certain gentility that goes along with the dogwood and its four spots of Christ's blood, as you bring so much old time religion in with the mention of architecture, denominations and tunes.
Yes, I think of the Shenandoah and more southerly climes when I think of Dogwood - it was my grandmother's favorite; she grew up in Montreat, N.C.
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i likes it... best part:
It is May,
and I smell the scent of dogwood in bloom;
semi-sweet,
somewhere between sandlewood and jasmine.
except im allergic to dogwood =( -
This reads like a stream that flows into the larger water of one of my all time favourite songs Shenandoah. I myself have been idly playing the dulcimer for some 25 years now, have never really mastered it, but God, do I love its droning sound.
Marc
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"The dogwood is prolific upon that field."
and so are you. I really liked this one, one of my favorites by you.
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You have written an interesting piece my friend. I wonder about ancestry quite often but have never started research at all. I like the inferences you have written and will now think some more.
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