Nora Pays Her Respects

[Missy_Crane]

During my ramblings through the Cornish countryside, I recently came upon a beautiful cemetery only 20 mins from my house. It's surprisingly big and there are 2 parts to it - one is newer, and looks onto the highway. It's noisy, and the graves are all modern and shiny, there are sometimes people there. But there is an older quieter section, tucked away like a secret garden over a little hill and behind some trees. On pleasant days, dappled sunlight trickles through and hits the forgotten graves in the overgrown grass. This has quickly become my favourite hideaway to visit.

A lot of these graves are from the 1800s, so they are sadly dilapidated now and don't get visitors like the more recent side. Many have broken headstones and statues, and the names and dates are hidden by the overgrowth. So, when I visit, I like to clean up. Just small things like brushing away the moss, and pulling fallen tree branches off the graves (it's been breezy lately!). I'm not Christian and would feel strange saying a prayer, so this is my way of paying respects and saying 'thanks for having me here'. My personal favourite tradition has become to take a single flower with me every time I go, and lay it on a grave that doesn't look as if it's been visited in a while. That was the idea, anyway...I usually give the flower to Leonard and Mildred. (The only thing I know about Leonard and Mildred is their names, and when they died - and that even though Mildred passed away many decades after Leonard, she loved him enough to ask to be buried with him. That touched me, so I keep coming back to 'say hi' to them.)

In the autumn months this beautiful place was surprisingly filled with life; I often saw a happy cat sunning itself between the graves, the bushes were laden with sloes, and elderberries were bursting from the trees. I ended up harvesting a few so that my mum could make jams and pies. Even now in winter, the walkway out of the cemetery leading to the highway is abundant with red berries.

I got a little lonely going by myself, so this time I brought a visitor to help me lay the flower and keep the place neat....although Nora mostly hung around while I did the work.



















If there are any spirits watching over that graveyard, I imagine they think of me as 'the weird girl who comes and tidies'. From now on they'll probably think of me as 'the weird girl with the doll'