Grave Faces VIII

I came across this pajama party angel a few weeks ago.

She looks just like a teenage girl at a sleep over.

Her mouth is open and she's telling me something.

Something personal, because she knows me so well.

And it's just as scary now as it was in 1967 -

for different reasons.

This woman is not interested in telling me anything.

She's on a mission.

Her head is tilted down with determination

and her eyes are set on her goal.

Although I'm sure  the message is about heaven,

I must say that I've seen that look

on the faces of teachers who are desperately

trying to find time to get to the washroom

during recess.

I get the feeling that

she knows that I am here

and at any moment

her eyes will snap open.

I don't linger.

If this angel is aware of me, 

she doesn't let on.

Her wings are big and heavy looking

and she is very slight

so perhaps she is simply tired.

I suppose angels have to grow into their wings and

adolescence is a struggle in heaven too.

This little fellow really made me laugh.

His name is Hope,


 but neither his face nor his position

suggest anything hopeful.

But he is patient.

If he has to

he can wait an eternity


 for someone to come along and free him.

But he won't have to wait - 

because the message of Spring is

rebirth and hope.

Happy mid April, everyone!

Grave Faces V - Grotesque

A Grotesque is a figure that makes the viewer feel uncomfortable

because of its bizarreness.

 It usually evokes 'empathic' pity.

This Grotesque sits atop a rather ordinary headstone

 in a cemetery that is otherwise heavy with Christian symbolism.

He looks as if he is trying to mind his own business.

Sort of like the kid who thinks,

"If I don't look at the teacher she won't notice that I'm here."

But it isn't easy not being noticed if you live among saints and angels

but have the misfortune of looking like a Hound of Hell.

Year in, year out, he sits hunched over this grave.

He mourns her under the blazing hot summer sun

and through the cruel storms of winter.

This is the beginning of  March.

Soon everything around him will speak of rebirth and renewal and hope

but he won't see it.

He's trapped.

Trapped in the bleakest hours between

Good Friday and Easter Sunday. 

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