THE CEMETERY PHOTOGRAPHER

People often ask me why I spend my free time in cemeteries, photographing tombstones of people I have never met and are not my relatives.  I recently stumbled upon a poem that pretty well sums it up:

THE CEMETERY PHOTOGRAPHER

Wandering among the stones I see

The stones so weathered and worn

‘Tis difficult to find the date

On which the babe was born

I stare at the stone and am struck with awe

At the life that I knew was gone

This was someone's child, a babe so sweet

With loved ones to carry on

So I take a photo for all to see

For the family that remains

An everlasting memory of

A child of God's domain

I brush the weeds back from the stone

And say a silent prayer

For the babes that had no chance to live

And for mothers everywhere

The dove calls out it's mourning song

Among the stones so still

Echoes of the woes, through time

The choirs of despair

The stone will someday perish

The flowers will be gone

But a photo now remains of this

Their memory lives on!

And so my friend, don't hesitate

To film the weathered stone

Those who live within your hearts

Are never truly gone.

Author:  Jan Miller - used with permission

With thanks to fellow graver Baxter Fite who first made the poem known to me, to Geraldine Humes who directed me to Jan Miller as the poem's author - and especially to Jan Miller who graciously allowed me to use her poem on my blog.