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Warriston Cemetery |
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Poem |
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Thank you to Elizabeth Dodds for allowing me to reproduce her poem below. Elizabeth wrote: |
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Warriston Cemetery "When I first went to Warriston Cemetery, over 40 years ago, it was beautifully kept. I remember always stopping to look in through the door of the marble chapel and seeing the beautiful lady lying so snug and peaceful." "It has been tragic watching, over the years, as the place has become overgrown, more and more gravestones smashed and seeing the lady lying now out in the open is heartbreaking." "Here is a poem that I wrote recently." Elizabeth Dodds, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England: March 27, 2012 |
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Warriston Cemetery Cast iron gates clang, shutting in the dead Towering ashlar walls, soot-blackened with age Overgrown paths between rows of gravestones Hushed whispers, melancholy inscriptions “Rest in peace. Evermore” Copse of Scots pine, cawing with crows Casting dark shadows down onto headstones Fallen branches, tangle of nettles, Mosses and lichens burying words “Thy will be done” Weeping angels, hands clasped in prayer Carved Celtic crosses wreathed in laurel Funerary urns draped in cold linen Obelisks, columns, great granite edifices Built to last. Now fallen, broken, Strangled by tree roots, they lie gasping “Gone but not forgotten” Tomb of the Red Lady, white marble shrine, Ruby red glasshouse, warm and sheltering Our beloved daughter, Mary Anne Robertson Now smashed and destroyed, her sanctuary in ruins Naked and vulnerable she lies in the rain. Who will protect her? “Till we meet again” Mock Tudor catacombs, metal grilled windows Oven-doored shelves holding the coffins Of Edinburgh’s tenement dwellers Row upon row, in death as in life Sleeping together amidst dank and decay “Until the day break and the shadows flee away” Citizens of Edinburgh from Georgian townhouses Architects and astronomers, physicians and politicians Judges and jewellers from Charlotte Square mansions Ministers and musicians from Marchington and Murrayfield Yesterday living, they strode through their world Purposeful, important, admired and respected Crowds at the funeral, black veiled widows Weeping, mourning the loss of a beloved Now they lie among brambles, forgotten, abandoned “They are not dead but sleepeth”. “In Memoriam” © Elizabeth Dodds: March 14, 2012 |
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Photos |
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Below are three photos of the Shrine to Mary Ann Robertson, mentioned in Elizabeth's poem above. 1.
© Allan Dodds, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England Photo taken around 1959
© Reproduced by courtesy of Evening News. Click here for web site details. The base of the tomb of the Red Lady - Mrs Mary Ann Robertson
© please contact peter.stubbs@edinphoto.org.uk Photograph taken July 26, 2010 |
