there are few sights that strike me silent and that cut to the center, but on Sunday, I saw just that.
There were three men and a little boy. He must have been twelve years old. They had gone to the site where his father had been hit by a vehicle while bike riding.
The boy stood with his back to where his father’s body had lain. His face was round and solemn, his eyes full of what he was holding back. He looked like he was afraid that, if he breathed, everything would come spilling, and while he faced away, the three men dug a hole for the memorial.
Yellow flowers, so out of place in the January cold. A pretty bouquet surrounded by stones to mark the spot where their loved one had last breathed.
In Mexico, they build descansos, markers or shrines, by roadsides as reminders that the road does not forgive. If the men and boy were in their native country, I could imagine them erecting a cross. But there they were, in the United States, less than a half mile from my home, placing sunset flowers in January…
a reminder the road does not forgive, and that the broken heart of a small boy who mourns his father cannot forget.
2 comments:
We use to rarely see these markers here in south texas. Now it is a common thing. Even the anglo boy that was drinking and driving at Christmas time has flowers on crosses on the fence and even the bumper from his truck is there with all the flowers. I have mixed emotions about this. It must be a hassle to the men who clean the road side, on the other hand I'm sure it means a lot to family. Paula
This happened to a friend of mine. A little over a year ago a car came flying off the road and crashed into a tree in her yard. A young Italian boy was driving and he was killed. His family and friends made a shrine at the tree in my friends yard. She didn't mind at first, but it is over a year and they are still coming back and leaving things.......in her private yard. She finally had to tell them she would rather they didn't do that anymore. I don't really understand it. It is where the boy died but not where his body rests. Besides, I don't think it is even important where the body rests. It is only important that the body no longer holds the spirit.
It seems the shrine concept has become traditional in the past 10 or so years. I live in Iowa and to see a shrine along a roadside is not uncommon anymore.
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