Wednesday, January 3, 2007

Decay in the cemetery

It seems that time, weather and louts have had their effect on the headstones in this cemetery. It's quite an old one - the old Bromley cemetery in Christchurch (well, old for New Zealand, OK?). And unfortunately, the weather and vandals have had a good go at the old headstones, smashing them up and tossing them over. Thankfully some kind people have attempted to reassemble the pieces, but it's like a giant jigsaw puzzle without a picture on the box to follow. Not only that, but once together again, what's to say the pieces won't be scattered again?
Wandering through the cemetery I am always struck by the degree of passion that is locked into the stone - lovers parted, sons gone forever, wee babies mourned, daughters dying in childbirth, whole families disrupted by car smash, boat sinking - and still many others with a rich and rewarding life who now go unremembered because their kin have slipped away...

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