The Old Burying Ground... (A Halloween duet with Liz Santos)...

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Nan

Administrator

Member Seraphic

since 1999-05-20

Posts 21191
Cape Cod Massachusetts USA

0 posted 2003-10-26 12:18 PM

This has been a wonderful weekend with Elizabeth visiting me here on Cape Cod. Yesterday we had the pleasure of taking a stroll through the oldest cemetery in my town and found that it was haunted by many of the founders of the village - Some of these wonderful "spirits" date back as far as the 1600's... We just couldn't resist sharing them with our Passionate poetic friends...

The Old Burying Ground

Creaking cast iron gate wends a path of shades wrought.
Seasoned conduit to spirits of yesterday’s lot,
Cautious heed yields an instant of timely detach;
On a trek down this lane, ghostly glimpse one may catch,
In consortion with natives, old Jonathan Hatch.

To retrace history’s path is to prudently step
Over crackling leaves where a slipper has crept.
To relight melted candles, reclaiming their wicks,
In attempts to revisit a past they can’t fix,
As the mystical myth of Elizabeth Wicks.

Crimson autumn supplants summer spectral of bloom,
O’er their stones etched in eulogies, specters now loom.
Once a meadow unbounded by cranberry patch,
Bitter Abial’s harrows meet Temperance match.
Haunting discord allayed by Sir Jonathan Hatch.

Voices floating through mists of a New England town
Are the legends exhumed from Old Burying Ground;
Where the bones are the flesh and the dead are the quick,
And All Hallows Eve visitors treated to tricks
By the glorious immortal Elizabeth Wicks.

Hallowed chorus of spiritual hymns congregation
Resound in eternal refrain’s invitation
To join Sider’s Pond village haunt’s yearly clatch,
Hearing Katharine Lee Bates and her poems unlatch
The historical visions of Jonathan Hatch.

These bizarre apparitions of varied condition
Return to recount life’s demise or fruition.
Yet souls are unsettled and eyeballs transfixed
In a graveyard where spirits are mingled and mixed;
Where the live meet the dead and Elizabeth Wicks.

Here immured are the wraithlike, engravings proclaim,
As their ancestral wicks burn ethereal flame.

All Hallows Eve Love to Everyone
Nan & Elizabeth

Magnus

Member Laureate

since 2001-10-10

Posts 14135
South Carolina, USA

1 posted 2003-10-26 12:39 PM

You gals have got to realize that you have
raised the pole up a couple of notches...
And I don't think our legs will reach quite
that far.

This is a masterful piece, with an awesome
blending of two fine ladies. Thanx!!!

passing shadows
Member Empyrean

since 1999-08-26

Posts 45577
displaced

2 posted 2003-10-26 12:40 PM

*shivers*

Enchantress
Member Empyrean

since 2001-08-14

Posts 35113
Canada eh.

3 posted 2003-10-26 01:07 PM

Wonderful write by two of Passions finest writers.
Very much enjoyed the read as I love to haunt..I mean..hunt old cemeteries.
~Smiles & Hugs to you both, Nancy~

~Time has cast a spell on you,
So you won't ever forget me~

Mistletoe Angel

Member Empyrean

since 2000-12-17

Posts 32816
Portland, Oregon

4 posted 2003-10-26 02:12 PM

(big hugggssssssss) Oh Nan and Elizabeth, this is such a beautiful duet, sweet friends, hehehe, some haunted muse must have got hold of you both visiting he cemetery, hehehe! (giggles in delight) I love it, sweet friends, this is wonderful, we all love you so much! You have such beautiful hearts, sweet Elizabeth and Nan, thank you for sharing!

May love and light always shine upon you both!

Love,
Noah Eaton

I don't need no proof when it comes to God and truth
I can see the sun set and I perceive

***Live***

Joyce Johnson

Member Rara Avis

since 2001-03-10

Posts 9912
Washington State

5 posted 2003-10-26 02:19 PM

This is wonderful Nan. I'm coming back to ead it again after I get those bulbs in the ground. We have only a day or so before it starts to rain and I stayed home from church to get them in. Love, Joyce

Denise

Moderator

Member Seraphic

since 1999-08-22

Posts 22648

6 posted 2003-10-26 08:27 PM

Wish I were there! Great poem, Girls!

Balladeer

Administrator

Member Empyrean

since 1999-06-05

Posts 25505
Ft. Lauderdale, Fl USA

7 posted 2003-10-26 10:00 PM

What a grave undertaking you two have here...it's deep and with a good plot! I'll just say I dig it!!

Magnificent presentation, you two!!

Mysteria

Member Laureate

since 2001-03-07

Posts 18328
British Columbia, Canada

8 posted 2003-10-27 12:35 PM

Oh my! So that is what it looks like when two excellent poets trade notebooks after visiting somewhere together? I can't say that I would have liked to have been spooked but to have missed this with the two of you was my loss. What an excellent job on this you two, but then I would not expect anything less. Happy Howlings m'friends, and Liz, sleep on the way home pahleeezzze? Talk to you both sometime soon. Love the missing link.

Kit McCallum

Administrator

Member Laureate

since 2000-04-30

Posts 14774
Ontario, Canada

9 posted 2003-10-27 06:46 AM

Ladies! What a boooootiful collaboration! Such an intricate rhyme scheme and meter. It flowed wonderfully throughout.

That would have been a blast to have visited the past this way. What a great idea, and a fantastic way to give townsfolk a feel for the history of their area. Maybe you should forward this poem along to the people who put this event on each year?

Excellent duet you two, and wonderful to talk to you both last night. Miss you both!

Great big hugs,
/Kit

suthern

Member Seraphic

since 1999-07-29

Posts 20723
Louisiana

10 posted 2003-10-27 09:28 AM

I knew I was in for a treat when I saw the pairing of poets. *S* Thank you for this spirited presentation... and for the pics of two awfully sweet ladies! *S*

Sunshine

Administrator

Member Empyrean

since 1999-06-25

Posts 63354
Listening to every heart

11 posted 2003-10-27 09:51 AM

You two have raised the bar on poetry - which is fine for those who are metered in rhyme...but you know me, while I enjoyed your spell it suits me well to slip along in free sung verse...

But do it again!

Elizabeth Santos
Member Rara Avis

since 1999-11-08

Posts 9269
Pennsylvania

12 posted 2003-10-28 08:08 PM

What an educational stroll through a graveyard, as the personal lives of the ancestors of Falmouth were revealed by their spirits, walking, talking souls of historical knowledge and meaningful insight into the past. Thank you all for reading and responding to this strange and wonderful experience. Wish you could have joined us.
Happy Halloween!
Liz

Martie

Moderator

Member Empyrean

since 1999-09-21

Posts 28049
California

13 posted 2003-10-28 11:27 PM

Nan and Liz...Wonderful to see you together!

serenity blaze
Member Empyrean

since 2000-02-02

Posts 27738

14 posted 2003-10-28 11:31 PM

and people think that I get to have all the fun.

Nope. I've got nothing on you ladies!

I enjoyed this much--in fact, it brought back fond memories of my own childhood crypt.

Love to you both! Wonderful.

garysgirl

Member Laureate

since 2002-09-29

Posts 19237
Florida, USA

15 posted 2003-10-29 05:31 AM

Nan and Elizabeth, I loved this walk with you two through the past...even in the cemetery. That is a very good way to encourage people to have interest in the history of their towns.
I really enjoyed your poem-story.

Hugs to you both

Ethel

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