Out of Place

Image by Monmouth-based artist John Exton   © Leedam 2016
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Trying to make sense of things after a death is never easy and we have an instinctive need to do something tangible to show our respect. Cut flowers are the normal choice, but at a natural burial ground there are no grave markers with vases and no obvious place to put them. Should we bring them at all?

Cut flowers seem to be more in the tradition of the cemetery and death rather than the cycle of death and life that is represented by our natural burial grounds. Even cut daffodils, though lovely, will soon fade and die. They always seem somehow out of place lying down on the ground.

One alternative, that is both subtle and beautiful, is a scattering of rose petals - periodically to be found on some graves, and  always poignant.
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