Family Pieties

[poliphilo]

I haven’t had a bonfire as big as this in years. All the wood that had fallen off my mother’s trees this past autumn and winter was piled in a heap- and I offered to set light to it.

Whoosh.

My father and I used to bond over bonfires- in a gruff, tight-lipped, manly way.

That was yesterday. This morning I was going through a suitcase of photos belonging to my grandfather and found the draft of a poem he must have written as a young man. I couldn’t make much sense of the middle because of all the crossings out- so I’ve omitted it.

Oh if I knew an enchanting walk
Away from relations inarticulate talk,
A little lone, but far from town
In which I might find a bed of down
Where aching boots and weary mind
Might lie and soliloquize for a time.
……………

One day I am sure I shall find
On this troubled earth of minds
This undisturbed and restful grave.

I showed it to my mother. “Oh dear,” she said cheerfully, “and we cremated him.”

Comments

[halfmoon-mollie.livejournal.com]

We think we live in a noisy world. Sounds like your Grandfather thought he did, and he was probably correct. Just different noises.

I am partial to bonfires on our beach in the summer. There are six of us - well, there WERE six of us - pretty much of an age - who used to build fires that blazed at first, then settled down. We talked long into the night - sometimes all of us, sometimes just two or three.

Two of our number are gone, hopefully to that undisturbed and restful grave like that of your grandfather.

Thanks for helping me remember those fires....

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

My family makes sandcastles. Judging by the family photos, it's a tradition that goes back to the 1920s. My father was so keen he used to take a big garden spade to the beach.