Baby

Elmwood Cemetery, Shepherdstown, WV

I was wandering through the cemetery; a mix of Confederate graves, forgotten stones and family plots; a place where Antebellum South antiquity meets Mid-Atlantic modernity; I was happily snapping away, until I came across this marker, tucked away in the back, with the simple, heart-wrenching inscription of “Baby.” I took a moment and I thought about this poor child, alone, these many years. Had she taken a breath and smelled the sweetness of life? Had she opened her tiny eyes and gazed with love and longing, upon her mother? Had she felt that radiant love, returned to her, if only for the briefest moment? Did she even have a moment, before she fell, without a name? I wondered how many years it had been since anyone else had thought about this child and I felt a wellspring of grief that seemed to span the many years that lay between us. I’ve thought of her in the days that have passed; I wonder if she’s lonely still.

I wrote this a few years back and rewrote it a little bit, today. The original photo and post are available on my photography page on Facebook (www.facebook.com/phatography). Unfortunately, I can’t seem to find an original copy of the photo and I was unable to download the photo from Facebook, so the photo that is posted here is just a screenshot, from my phone. I still think about this child, from time to time. I guess that I just wanted someone else to think about her, too.