Prairie Cemetery

If there be memories here,

Echoes of the past long ago silenced;

then they exist in the quiet whispers

of the rustling cottonwood leaves.

 

If there be a thought that lingers on,

a moment's ingenuity still considered;

then it is imbedded in the stems

of the golden rockets and pasque flowers here.

 

This gentle square of prairie, rough unbroken sod,

bears witness to a past which most have forgotten.

A lonely lilac guards a leaning stone,

drawing its branches in a protective embrace.

Root bound flowers encircle falling stones,

remnants of grief and a harder time.

 

If there be memories or thoughts here,

visions and ingenuity that linger on.

They are embedded in the depths

of my hardened country soul.

I have not forgotten.

 

Catherine Schmidt