Churchyard Nature Note with Andrew Tompsett
February 2012
Churchyard clearance reveals
more old texts
With gravestones smaller these days it is interesting to look at the older and larger stones to see memorial texts carved on many which are more than 150 years old. Some are eroded and mossy but here are a few which have been revealed again recently.
The first is a salutary message:
“O man prepare to meet thy God
While thou art in thy prime
Prepare for long eternity
While health and strength be thine”
The next is a touching and personal verse as loving parents mourn the loss of a son of 14 and daughter aged 8:
“O that we all at last may share
The bliss of those who soar above
Lord grant that with our children there
We all may sing redeeming love”
Yet another is in memory for a seaman:
“ Poor Watts had braved the boisterous main
And gained the port where he was bound
But never to embark again
Till summoned by the trumpet sound”
Finally, many texts hold a constant reminder or our mortality”
“Weep not for me my parents dear
I am not dead but sleeping here
I am not yours but God’s alone
He loved me best and took me home
All that pass by pray cast an eye
As you are now so once was I
As I am now so shall you be
Prepare yourself to follow me”
The churchyard is a place to find peace and the quiet contemplation of nature and the generations that have gone before.
Let us keep it precious and peaceful, a place for all to enjoy.
