Where was she buried? ~~ a Poem for "Play It Again, Toads!"

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We took him there to see

She's buried here someplace
I think down at the south end, 
somewhere near the southeast corner
There's no stone for her

That's all he said, it wasn't a lot 
We walked down that way, 
I read some names along the way 
Family names most all, quite a lot for ours 
But none were for her

She didn't have a name, Dad had said, 
and it's what we had heard 
We hung around for a bit, fairly silent

An old pickup stopped by on the road 
Elmer John got out and chatted with my dad
About the same age they were

We stepped their way, I introduced myself to him 
Chatting some more, I told him why we had come 
Trying to locate Dad's little sister,
where she was put

Dad was born a twin, both were preemie babies, 
each had weighed barely two pounds, 
only one had lived

They hadn't named her,
just buried "Baby Girl" in a plot

Elmer was good news that day,  
he was caretaker now 
and had a map at his house 

We went to see and sure enough,  
our "Baby Girl" was there on his map,  
about four feet from the road, 
forty from the east line 

Armed with this information, back we went 
I was thinking of how we had looked there before
but now he'll know 

Dad was happy with what he'd heard  
He'd seen it on the page and
walked the ground with his feet

He knew there wasn't a stone,
but now he knew, for sure
what he'd been told was right
Settled with him

We were happy too. We didn't mention that the
old dirt road was what showed on the map
but since it had been widened and graveled

But Dad knew what he knew. He was happy again




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 - Top photo by Daryl Edelstein and posted January 28, 2012 by Fireblosom in her Weekend Photo Challenge (http://withrealtoads.blogspot.co.za/2012/01/weekend-photo-challenge-daryl-edelstein.html)

 - Lower Photo and Poem Copyright © 2013 and 2016 Jimmiehov, All Rights Reserved

 

Notes:

 - I'm linked with Kerry O'Connor at the Imaginary Garden with Real Toads, Play It Again, Toads! (link)

 - Kerry asked us to choose between three older Toad prompts:   1.  Words Count with Mama Zen (2014);  2.  Sunday Mini-Challenge with Susan Chast (2013); or  3. Weekend Photo Challenge with Fireblossom (2012) . 

 - I chose the third with Fireblossom.  She had in 2012 published several pictures by Daryl Edelstein and had asked writers to write a poem using what came to mind after studying one of pictures posted.  I chose the cemetery picture shown here as my top photo.  You can read the instructions here:  (http://withrealtoads.blogspot.co.za/2012/01/weekend-photo-challenge-daryl-edelstein.html)

 

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 - The lower photo is one taken a the St. John's church cemetery in London (U.K.) which I had used in 2013, and is also a cemetery related poem:

https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=37852032#editor/target=post;postID=4196715615402144623

 

 - Fact check:  My dad was born a twin, both together didn't weigh four pounds.  They were born on Grandpa's farm and were kept in shoe boxes in the oven.  The sister was not named, died at age one day, and was buried in a country cemetery, 'in the corner down by the road.'  There was no tombstone. 

 -  More:  There was a map which showed the place, very likely now on .  The caretaker's name was not Elmer John and he did not drive by.  Mrs. Jim and I did take Dad to the cemetery.  We also knew where the caretaker lived so we went to his home.  He gave us a copy of his map.  There is one other in the county museum.  I have no idea of what all Dad was thinking but was aware and wanted to show us.  Turned out we also showed him some details concerning his sister's burial place, the map.