Haiku My Heart
February 18, 2011
Haiku My Heart Friday is a meme started by me friend Rebecca at recuerdo mi corazon. Stop by and have a look to see other haiku and find out how to participate.
A heart breaks each time
Shrine to ever lasting life
People don’t notice
This shrine in the town of Truth or Consequences sits high on a telephone pole. It has special meaning for those that know what happened on this corner. For others, it is hardly noticed. In fact, I drove by this corner every day for a month before seeing it.
Along the highway, seeing a cross and a shrine adorned with colorful flowers to mark the place where a loved one died is commonplace, but you don’t often see this sort of thing in town, any town.
I stopped to take a look. So many thoughts went through my head, as I have known the pain of losing a family member in an automobile accident. I wonder what the people who lost someone at this spot feel when they have to drive by. I wonder how many people see it and might wonder about the unusual placement.
I wonder if the ones that put it there seek out this place and drive by going out of their way. I wonder if they keep it up and freshen the plastic flowered wreath every so often. They’d have to bring a ladder as this display is high up on the pole.
No matter what, may the loved one that was lost here Rest In Peace.
Peace, what a concept
19 comments:
Wow , this is very thought provoking. May your day be filled with peace. : )
That was a very touching thought you had and made me think too!! You are such a peaceful man and filled with concern; you relate very well to other people's anxieties!!
May you ever find peace!!
This must indeed be difficult to see, I wonder too every time I see a road side shrine...of the family left behind.
very touching post...happy Friday my friend
the alters along the roads often cause me to catch my breath - to feel the pain that family must feel. Peace is a wonderful concept. May the world be filled with peace.
I always feel saddened by the shrines along the road - but you are right - they are rarely in town (although I have seen them - they tend to be taken down by the city fairly quickly I think).
Also thanks for your comments - my husband would have a hyper-fit if I brought in a dreamcatcher although I think yours are very special being one of a kind and with a real spiritual element and not the mass produced ones sold as decor.
I guess having the shrine high up on a pole might be to keep it safe from vandals and perhaps even to prevent it from distracting drivers?
It's a very moving sight anyway.
We saw many shrines on the edge of a steep mountain road in Greece once long ago and when we asked if they were memorials to accident victims we were told many of them were thanksgiving shrines left by people who had survived accidents!
I love that you stop to notice and pay tribute to such a shrine. Your conscious and loving attention to it,your compassion in sharing it, and your memory of a common wound are enough to make its significance greater than any marble mausoleum. I too have seen such shrines. We lost some bicyclists here in Santa Barbara, just young boys, and their parents put up flowers and some of their favorite things by the roadside. No one took them down. They were there for a very long time.
Peace and Light,
Noelle
But you looked up, Spadoman, and you noticed. Even one "notice" can begin to change the world.
Haiku My Heart, O Sentinel
We are all linked by our stories - of loss and love. I am glad you graced that memorial spot, and the creators of it, with your energy today.
Peace to you, Man.
i offer a prayer and acknowledgement whenever i pass by these shrines. it is a common practice in the southwest and mexico.
i find it a powerful expression of love and a reminder to live life fully with a kind and caring heart.
thanks for this spadoman. a truly beautiful offering straight from your heart.
You noticed.
You made the time.
*sending prayers*
Peace, indeed.....
The noticing and compassionate sharing of hearts is what is so enriching about this tribe.
Thank you for this glimpse of life and death in Truth or Consequence.
Love Ms Foxy x
Poignant and thought-provoking, and compassionate. I'm sorry that such compassion has been born, at least in part, of recognition.
It is a sad thing to see, anywhere.
Peaceful blessings.
Deb
Come back to Wisco, New Guy, we need you to help stop the debasement of the working people. Time to chant "No Justice, No Peace."
What a remarkably thought provoking spot of someone's world you caught with your camera.
Beautiful post. :-)
amazing how something so silent can cast a shadow of a voice that you are compelled to look up and notice... as i drive the byways whenever i see a cross i am inclined to lift up a prayer to the one(s) who have passed this way on to the next... i too wonder of their families and such... a beautiful post spadoman...
Very moving, Spadoman. How meaningful to have the devotion placed here at the place of death. The place where the soul departed, where the final breath was taken, where the memory overcomes. Your haiku says it all. Peace, Margaret
Sigh... I live in a state full of highways and busy roads and sadly, there are similar shrines here, too. And yes, I wonder about the life lost and the loved ones left grieving. These shrines are also good reminders for everyone on the road to be mindful and aware of each other while driving.
Glad you noticed it-I know I didn't when I was there. It's pretty darned cool!
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