gateway haiku
May 9, 2008 by QuoinMonkey
Gateways, Lakewood Cemetery near Lake Calhoun, Minneapolis, Minnesota, May 2008. Spring blooms in Babyland, near the Chinese Community Memorial. Photo © 2008 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
white-belled bleeding hearts
spring sweeps through silent gateways
cemetery pause
-posted on red Ravine, Friday, May 9th, 2008
-related to post, haiku (one-a-day)
like the use of bleeding hearts–nice haiku
this is beautiful, and the picture is breath-taking.
i have to ask, what exactly is babyland?
Scot, thank you. Liz mentioned the bleeding hearts had just gotten their little bells on. The double meaning just seemed to work.
Scaramastra, Babyland is a section of the cemetery where the young babies have been laid to rest. I have started to take notice of these sections of cemeteries ever since Mom and I were in Georgia, I guess around 7 years ago now, and made a round of the cemeteries to honor our heritage.
Mom was looking for her sister, a baby my grandmother had lost to crib death. Mom mentioned she was buried with “the babies” and that was the first time I had heard that there were sections that were specifically to honor the young ones. They tend to be tender places, and I’ve noticed they are visited frequently by others and contain toys and tender messages to those lost. This tree was in the center of Babyland in Lakewood.
Thank you for the compliment on the photo. There is something about this one that I really liked. I think it was the motion of the wind blowing the toys in the tree. It was a beautiful day last weekend. And the little Spirits were all at play. It was a wonderful walk.
QM, I love this photo, too. The branches of the tree are so dark, almost black. And the leaves — they look a golden orange. Are those from last season?
When I first read the haiku, which I love, I thought it was “white-bellied” bleeding hearts.
The expansion on Babyland is interesting. I didn’t know that cemeteries had special sections for babies. I wonder if that’s an old approach. I would think families would want babies in family plots.