Forgotten In Time

These marble stones the mosses mar Lie dormant above the earth. They tell us who these mute folk are With blurred inscriptions of their birth. Many there are with forgotten names And there is no one to remember The tenuous hold that kinship claims To any living family member. No visitors come to dress the stones Or give them any passing thought. To this silent field of long unknowns Neither flowers nor wreaths are brought. But someone must have called on a friend That then had recently passed away- They planted a bush to mark the end Of their temporary earthly stay. Long ago it was a panoply With many fragrant flowers to dangle; Now fronds drape down in a canopy That is a jumbled leafy tangle. It all but obscures the marker stone As for years it has been neglected, And now has become too overgrown And denies the attention once affected. This bush, like the friend that was thought of, Has fallen from out of the mind, And though surely it was planted in love, It’s just as surely been forgotten in time.