Time doth transfix the flourish set on youth
And delves the parallels in beauty's brow,
Feeds on the rarities of nature's truth,
And nothing stands but for his scythe to mow.
And yet to times in hope my verse shall stand,
Praising thy worth, despite his cruel hand.
-- Shakespeare, Sonnet 60
As a bulwark against the inevitability of material decay and forgotten life stories, cemeteries are filled with tokens of memory and symbols of belief in eternal life.
I am intrigued by these tokens and symbols -- whether they be in lush, well-tended urban cemeteries like Forest Hills in Boston where I used to live, or in small rural cemeteries of New Mexico where I now live -- and I photograph them as a kind of meditation on mortality and eternity.
Whatever your belief in the afterlife and in the value of symbols, for your own contemplation here are images from two of those New Mexico cemeteries I visited a few months ago.
The first was the Pinos Wells Cemetery, located on the vast llano of central New Mexico. It's a cemetery for those who live on ranches, far from any town, village, or church.
The other cemetery was located behind a small Roman Catholic church near the Rio Grande south of Bosque, NM. At first glance, it was as unprepossessing as the Pinos Wells Cemetery . . .
. . . but among the simple crosses were a few more elaborate memorials:
If you would like see these and other images from the two cemeteries in a larger format, please visit my photography website, Todos Juntos Photography, by clicking here.
Enjoy!
Lance, you have integrated the sky, the few trees, and the land beautifully, through your composition, adding to the wishes of those who laid their loved ones to rest. Great job/Barry
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