Christian Cemetery

These tombstones have been uprooted
Chipped madonnas and broken crosses
all weathered grey, are strewn on grass.
Never thought I would see them thus.
These stones that have been here so long
it seems the land was theirs for good-
but for the Urban Renewal Department
which needed that plot for a park.

My granny, though Catholic, was cremated
according to her wish. She knew
room in our affections was all
the space she needed. Or perhaps
she'd heard all about urbanization,
how her stone, had she been buried,
would wear away or be dislodged.
And so when she had to give up
what space she occupied, she left us
something that cannot be lost in stone
and therefore has no renewal.

Rathiy