Dear Ancestor,
Your tombstone stands among the rest;
Neglected and alone.
The name and the date are chiseled out
On polished, marbled stone.
It reaches out to all who cares
It is too late to mourn.
You did not know that I exist
You died and I was born.
Yet each of us are cells of you
In flesh, in blood, in bone.
Our blood contracts and beats a pulse
Entirely not our own.
Dear Ancestor, the place you filled
One hundred years ago
Spreads out among the ones you left
Who would have loved you so.
I wonder if you lived and loved,
I wonder if you knew
That someday I would find this spot,
And come to visit you.
Walter Butler Palmer (1906)
• Find A Grave memorial sponsored on Saturday, May 9, 2009.
Dear Ancestor,
Your tombstone stands among the rest;
Neglected and alone.
The name and the date are chiseled out
On polished, marbled stone.
It reaches out to all who cares
It is too late to mourn.
You did not know that I exist
You died and I was born.
Yet each of us are cells of you
In flesh, in blood, in bone.
Our blood contracts and beats a pulse
Entirely not our own.
Dear Ancestor, the place you filled
One hundred years ago
Spreads out among the ones you left
Who would have loved you so.
I wonder if you lived and loved,
I wonder if you knew
That someday I would find this spot,
And come to visit you.
Walter Butler Palmer (1906)
• Find A Grave memorial sponsored on Saturday, May 9, 2009.
Inscription
MATKA
JOSEFA SMETANA
NAR. 5 ZARI 1868
ZEM. 29 BREZNA 1906
MARIE SMETANA
NAR. 9 CERVENCE 1901
ZEM. 24 UNORA 1904
~~~ Translation ~~~
Mother
Josefa Smetana
Born 5 Sep 1868
Died 29 Mar 1906
Marie Smetana
Born 9 Jul 1901
Died 24 Feb 1904