On a visit to Cadder parish church

Near my home along the Forth and Clyde canal built in the 1700's and now a national monument lies the parish of Cadder. A church of some description has stood on the same site since the 1100's which by any account is pretty ancient the present one having been erected in the 1800's. I went not to pay my respects to the diseased but to see a tree which stood in the middle of that graveyard adjacent to the church which I drew with pastels many years ago as an art student. It was majestic with strong supporting bows and tastefully decorated with blossoms and shaded a good portion of the memorial site. On arriving I had found that it had been chopped to the ground. Now i don't have a morbid fascination for the dead but graveyards are fascinating if you are interested in people and history, some of the memorials are full of symbolism which reflects the times and i found myself reflecting on those people who lay beneath the moss covered stones. I composed this poem in the minimalistic style as I sat beside the wooden doors of the church sheltering from some warm summer rain.

Warm Summer rain
Sycamore seeds spiraling to the ground
A moss ridden name
Crumbles on an ancient stone
A child dead in the winter of eighteen sixty nine


you can see pictures of the little church yard here. Some of the tall sycamores must be hundreds of years old.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_TrAfgqXvlJU/SwgWsxeygHI/AAAAAAAAAgE/xt9yaiZf1GI/s1600/cawder+graveyard.JPG

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
Near my home along the Forth and Clyde canal built in the 1700's and now a national monument lies the parish of Cadder. A church of some description has stood on the same site since the 1100's which by any account is pretty ancient the present one having been erected in the 1800's. I went not to pay my respects to the diseased but to see a tree whi ...[text shortened]... ://4.bp.blogspot.com/_TrAfgqXvlJU/SwgWsxeygHI/AAAAAAAAAgE/xt9yaiZf1GI/s1600/cawder+graveyard.JPG

Robbie, you might get a kick out of this:

YouTube

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
Near my home along the Forth and Clyde canal built in the 1700's and now a national monument lies the parish of Cadder. A church of some description has stood on the same site since the 1100's which by any account is pretty ancient the present one having been erected in the 1800's. I went not to pay my respects to the diseased but to see a tree whi ...[text shortened]... ://4.bp.blogspot.com/_TrAfgqXvlJU/SwgWsxeygHI/AAAAAAAAAgE/xt9yaiZf1GI/s1600/cawder+graveyard.JPG

You must be having one of those religious experiences again. Or maybe it's spiritual. I have no way of knowing.

Two verses keep coming to mind though.

Luke 9:62
And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.

And

Philippians 3:13,14
Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but [this] one thing [I do], forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Just having a little fun is no sin.

Originally posted by sonhouse
Robbie, you might get a kick out of this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fY-ZoVMwGKM

Pretty awesome. I have to admit that I love trees. Chop down a tree and you chop down an entire community.

It appeared to me that those tall trees which stood sentinel like around the graveyard had witnessed the births, weddings and burials of generations, they being easily hundreds of years old and despite the fragility of life and the tragedies that had befallen sometimes entire families, life carried on. Magpies cackled in the treetops, sycamore seeds spiraled to the ground, gentle summer rain fell, the same as it had in 1789 or any other epoch. Now I know and understand the cyclical nature of life but it was somehow emphasized in that little church yard as i sat in the doorway.

Originally posted by josephw
You must be having one of those religious experiences again. Or maybe it's spiritual. I have no way of knowing.

Two verses keep coming to mind though.

Luke 9:62
And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.

And

Philippians 3:13,14
Brethren, I count not myself to have appreh ...[text shortened]... for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Just having a little fun is no sin.

I explain my comments above.

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
Pretty awesome. I have to admit that I love trees. Chop down a tree and you chop down an entire community.

It appeared to me that those tall trees which stood sentinel like around the graveyard had witnessed the births, weddings and burials of generations, they being easily hundreds of years old and despite the fragility of life and the tragedie ...[text shortened]... nature of life but it was somehow emphasized in that little church yard as i sat in the doorway.

I get that robbie. Really, I do. I have similar experiences all the time. Except my environment isn't as old, at least as far as it relates to Western European architecture and history.

I enjoy the nostalgic moment from time to time, but alas, I'm drawn back to reality when I consider what eternal value has that which I am contemplating.

Originally posted by josephw
I get that robbie. Really, I do. I have similar experiences all the time. Except my environment isn't as old, at least as far as it relates to Western European architecture and history.

I enjoy the nostalgic moment from time to time, but alas, I'm drawn back to reality when I consider what eternal value has that which I am contemplating.

Sure. There is usually always a process of reflection one gets when one visits a place of historical interest. I suspect for example if you visited the Little big horn in Montana and saw the graves of the soldiers who are situated where they lay dead on the field you would be moved to a similar process of reflection.

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
Sure. There is usually always a process of reflection one gets when one visits a place of historical interest. I suspect for example if you visited the Little big horn in Montana and saw the graves of the soldiers who are situated where they lay dead on the field you would be moved to a similar process of reflection.

Not necessarily. I'm in no way patriotic except where my duty lies, and I did my duty.

I saw the Grand Canyon once. I wasn't impressed. I though it would have been bigger. I was disappointed.

I have heaven in view now anyway. Maybe that's why I'm such a party pooper.

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
Pretty awesome. I have to admit that I love trees. Chop down a tree and you chop down an entire community.

It appeared to me that those tall trees which stood sentinel like around the graveyard had witnessed the births, weddings and burials of generations, they being easily hundreds of years old and despite the fragility of life and the tragedie ...[text shortened]... nature of life but it was somehow emphasized in that little church yard as i sat in the doorway.

Yeah, know what you mean about trees. As a boy, we had these incredibly huge walnut trees in our back yard and I would climb up as far as I dared and just loved the smell like birds and bushes and such, watched ants at their work and finding nests where I could watch but I never touched the little birds up there, was too much in awe of the whole tree village. It smelled like Earth up there.

Where I live now, in Pennsylvania at the southern end of the Pocono so-called mountains (I am from California where they have REAL mountains) anyway, the trees there are all like third generation stunted shadow of what real trees are supposed to be like. We have some pretty large trees in our yard but still, only about 20 meters high max, not like the real thing. There is a forest outside of Abu Tor where we lived near Jerusalem they call the Peace forest, well the Israelis call it that anyway, the Palestinians probably have their own name for it. Since the Israeli's love that forest, the Palestinian kids try to set it on fire maybe once a month but they never learn, not sure what these trees are but they have this ability to not burn when people try to set fire to them. A couple of branches then it just stops burning, must frustrate the hell out of the Palestinian kids. Anyway they are real trees, suckers are like 50 meters high which is where a tree is SUPPOSED to be🙂

We lived relatively close to the redwood forests in California. Now THOSE are trees! 100 meters plus high, one of them they cut a slot out of the bottom big enough to drive a car through and it is still alive.

That forest is as close as I ever got to feeling religious. Well there was one other time in Alaska, age 15, looking at aurora, totally awesome.

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
Near my home along the Forth and Clyde canal built in the 1700's and now a national monument lies the parish of Cadder. A church of some description has stood on the same site since the 1100's which by any account is pretty ancient the present one having been erected in the 1800's. I went not to pay my respects to the diseased but to see a tree whi ...[text shortened]... ://4.bp.blogspot.com/_TrAfgqXvlJU/SwgWsxeygHI/AAAAAAAAAgE/xt9yaiZf1GI/s1600/cawder+graveyard.JPG

I went not to pay my respects to the diseased but to see a tree which stood in the middle of that graveyard adjacent to the church which I drew with pastels many years ago as an art student.

I know you regard death as only a temporary inconvenience, but surely you mean deceased.

Originally posted by sonhouse
That forest is as close as I ever got to feeling religious. Well there was one other time in Alaska, age 15, looking at aurora, totally awesome.

So close, yet so far away! 😞

There's only one tree that will get you close to God anyway. 😉

Originally posted by DeepThought

I went not to pay my respects to the [b]diseased but to see a tree which stood in the middle of that graveyard adjacent to the church which I drew with pastels many years ago as an art student.

I know you regard death as only a temporary inconvenience, but surely you mean deceased.[/b]

yes, normally my typing is so bad that the spell checker picks everything up, on this occasion it let me down.😳

Originally posted by sonhouse
Yeah, know what you mean about trees. As a boy, we had these incredibly huge walnut trees in our back yard and I would climb up as far as I dared and just loved the smell like birds and bushes and such, watched ants at their work and finding nests where I could watch but I never touched the little birds up there, was too much in awe of the whole tree villag ...[text shortened]... religious. Well there was one other time in Alaska, age 15, looking at aurora, totally awesome.

Yeah some people like mountain climbing, they feel that sense of wonderment that you are referring to on the top of mountains, others like diving in the sea, others like the forest or the Aurora Borealis. Here the forest is not dangerous, but I have a friend from Montana who says that they get bears in their back yard, they got like bear proof garbage bins and stuff. Only recently I watched a film made in the Canadian Yukon, The Last trapper, about a dude and his husky dogs and way of life. Man I could live up there no problem if i could make veggie burgers from wild mushrooms.

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
yes, normally my typing is so bad that the spell checker picks everything up, on this occasion it let me down.😳

They don't know about context. Nice imagery in the OP by the way.

Originally posted by josephw
Not necessarily. I'm in no way patriotic except where my duty lies, and I did my duty.

If you are not moved by the massed graves of soldiers then you are dead already.