Milly

I live in a flat that is built in a church that overlooks a graveyard and it actually doesn't look at all freaky, it very well maintained, loads of grass and very few gravestones but since i've been living here, i've seen so many people who come to the graveyard to mourn but in their own special way! It's really interesting. The other day i saw this middle aged Afro-Carribean guy who brought his drums along, it looked like a tabla from India, and he sat next to a grave and played the drums rhythmically for over an hour. A couple of weeks ago on a sunny day, i saw a group of mainly women in a circle holding hands and humming some tune. Sometimes i find it a little scary but then i try and remember that most things that don't make sense make people apprehensive unjustly. Then you get your standard public that come to put flowers on the graves.

I've always thought, its nice to remember those who were once with us, but i personally feel that once a person has departed, its better to leave their soul to rest in piece, although it could be argued that the drumming could bring some form of peace to the soul of the dead. I suppose its just all about perception, i mean flowers, what is the purpose of putting flowers on a grave, its more for the person laying the flowers than for the dead, but visiting the grave is for the person who is alive more than for the dead in my opinion. The dead person doesn't know who has come to visit, or maybe they do, i suppose it depends on your own personal beliefs about life after death.

I always think how funny it is that certain birds like Ravens are found more in graveyards than anywhere else. People think thats eerie but i reckon it maybe because the graveyard is quite quiet and so it attracts all kinds of wildlife. Some graveyards are quite peaceful, i cut through one to get to a town centre and i see pigeons, squirrels and other wildlife, it just seems like another world , then i come out of the gates and i see a bustling street of cars, buses and pedestrians.

Some graveyards are scary though, i used to have one next to my sixth form college and it had freaky willow trees overhanging crowded gravestones of which some were broken...used to hate walking past that one!!