I’ve been preparing for an exhibit at a local photography gallery this month that features four images from my book-in-progress along with a collage of cemetery photographs.
The collage has three primary elements. For me its highlight is a circular sun formation above a monument. I took the original iPhone picture, shown below, during a cousin’s burial service at the family cemetery in Illinois. It had been a dark and dreary day. Just after the service, the clouds parted to show a glorious halo around the sun. Minutes later the halo disappeared and the clouds eventually resumed their blanket of gray. Some of us reacted as if it were a sign that our cousin was heaven-bound; others had a scientific explanation. The collage is an attempt to show my feeling that all was well and that the universe was communicating a peace and acceptance for a life well-lived.
The second element is the monument, located in the Island Cemetery at Newport, Rhode Island. This photo was taken at an earlier time on a sunny day in spring when all felt glorious—a similar feeling to the one when the sun halo showed itself
Thirdly, angels have appeared in religious art for millennia. The images I have chosen here represent to me care, comfort, and compassion for both the dying person and the bereaved.
Poetry has a unique way of expressing these sentiments. One of the poems along these lines quoted in my book is “Footsteps of the Angels” by Longfellow:
Ere the evening lamps are lighted,
And, like phantoms grim and tall,
Shadows from the fitful firelight
Dance upon the parlor wall;
Then the forms of the departed
Enter at the open door;
The beloved, the true-hearted,
Come to visit me once more….
With a slow and noiseless footstep
Comes that messenger divine,
Takes the vacant chair beside me,
Lays her gentle hand in mine.
And she sits and gazes at me
With those deep and tender eyes,
Like the stars, so still and saint-like,
Looking downward from the skies