Anybody exploring new country, new...
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Anybody exploring new country, new towns or villages, may have the good fortune to wonder through the history of the locale by visiting the local cemetery. Many tombs have become famous for the unusual, humorous, or insightful things inscribed upon them. Those proposing to reconstruct their family's genealogy, or anyone in a reflective mood, will find much to ponder in those quiet places.
At the turn of the century, Edgar Lee Masters produced an unusual collection of poems which he titled Spoon River Anthology. It consists of more than 200 epitaphs written by the deceased of a fictional mid-western town. As a whole the verses show a typical human community in microcosm; its betrayals, fights, pain, hopes and spiritual dishonesty and beauty. All the poems are honest --the dead can no longer change life's account. They are certainly unique in that the dead seem to live and speak to us.
One poem titled "Lucinda Matlock" tells of a woman who lived long and lovingly. She concludes:
What is this I hear of sorrow and weariness,
Anger, discontent and drooping hopes?
Degenerate sons and daughters,
Life is too strong for you —
It takes life to love life.
It is possible that we and others may already act as though we are the "living dead" of which St. Paul speaks. Yet, we hear a voice beyond the grave of our sins. "And when you were dead in your trespasses ... God made you alive ..."
There is still time. There is still the hope of Christ in which we have been rooted!
- Hedahl
At the turn of the century, Edgar Lee Masters produced an unusual collection of poems which he titled Spoon River Anthology. It consists of more than 200 epitaphs written by the deceased of a fictional mid-western town. As a whole the verses show a typical human community in microcosm; its betrayals, fights, pain, hopes and spiritual dishonesty and beauty. All the poems are honest --the dead can no longer change life's account. They are certainly unique in that the dead seem to live and speak to us.
One poem titled "Lucinda Matlock" tells of a woman who lived long and lovingly. She concludes:
What is this I hear of sorrow and weariness,
Anger, discontent and drooping hopes?
Degenerate sons and daughters,
Life is too strong for you —
It takes life to love life.
It is possible that we and others may already act as though we are the "living dead" of which St. Paul speaks. Yet, we hear a voice beyond the grave of our sins. "And when you were dead in your trespasses ... God made you alive ..."
There is still time. There is still the hope of Christ in which we have been rooted!
- Hedahl
