That Afternoon At Highgate Cemetery

That afternoon at Highgate When my life had paused awhile, Old graves and headstones greeted With their sad and forlorn smile. Smirched epitaphs stared at me My call they wanted to know, Though vowed in pensive silence With the ones' who lived below. I tread on cobbled pathways Between light and dappled shade, I wound past tombs and gravestones Down the chapel's colonnade. Past ivy mantled towers Then climbed a steep wooded hill, Saw no interment service And the cemetery seemed still. Traceried terraced balustrades Brick catacombs in iron-cast, Mausoleums of thinkers, And graves where mildew amassed. Grass blades and blossoms beckoned That I stand and pay regard, To those who walked the earth once And lay in the wooded yard. I turned to look for mourners Strangely, I found there was none, Grave-Angels surveying me For I was the only one. Could fathom not my habit Of rummaging life in death, In a yard eschewing time That cared not for poisoned breath. Bees and butterflies floated Near boughs of many a tree, Felt they were entertaining The ones buried there and me. Knew not cause of my halting Perhaps weary of the world, The air balming my sorrows With fragrant blossoms unfurled. Wish could decipher lessons That I could verily keep, From those who once existed Now endowed with restful sleep. I stirred up to crimson skies For the day had passed away, Dusk gathering rapidly My journey a longer way. When leaving that tranquil yard Wondered at my lessons there, My sojourn at the boneyard That cautioned - to be aware! For the dead too had once lived With many an urgent chore, Yet, when sly life deceived them They weren't wanted any more. All doorways barred forever Adorned with silver and gold, Save one gray and forsaken Welcoming them to its fold. Know men have little option But accept their hallowed fate, All vanities ground and churned Though it be a trifle late. When I walked out of Highgate Its echoes haunted my mind - Mattered not where I journeyed Knew destiny lay behind. ***********