i luv marble angels
Here
A public servant putters with a knife
And paints the railing red
Forever, as a mouse
Cracks walnuts by the headstones of the dead
Whose chiselled angels peer
At you, as if their art were long as life.
-Robert Lowell
I remember once standing in a cemetary where a stone angel raised her hand into the air. This person I was with looked about for anyone watching, then snapped the index finger from the angel’s upraised hand. It came off easily and she put it in her pocket later to add to her collection.
This must have been an offensive act. When I asked her, she said simply that the angel, raising its hand so poiusly toward heaven, deserved to be taken down a peg or two. (Those may not have been her exact words.) I guess she was right - the angel was certainly being snotty and, let’s face it, the gesture was beautiful. One tiny but fatal flaw in all that perfect white stonework… yes it was offensive, but a calculated and brilliant offense.
Now, when I think about it, I see that breaking the stone angel’s finger was her own way of reaching toward heaven, and one no less pious than the angel’s. This makes me smile because I remember her just like that, and I know I’m the same, too. You can say why a million ways, but that’s not the point. The point is that we snapped off every little finger we could find in our minds long before anyone tried it on a real monument. Everything was fair game but Beethoven. Still is.
I wonder, then, if I could nip that finger off myself. I wonder if I ever will.
The question is important, at least to me it is. I know which way I want to decide; but would I, under the harshest possible light, be willing to stand up for it? I don’t know. Perhaps the lack of such a harsh light is reason enough not worry.
Behold through you as bad as the rest,
Through the laughter, dancing, dining, supping, of people,
Inside of dresses and ornaments, inside of those wash’d and trimm’d faces,
Behold a secret silent loathing and despair.
-Walt Whitman
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Hey -
As an avid photographer of cemeteries, I can say that I am appalled at anyone who would deface something meant to honor the memory of the dead. No matter how uppity the angel might be - that little defacement will open up cracks for the rain and wind, and will cause the erosion of that beautiful statue in much quicker time than it would have if it remained whole.
If people want to break things, why don’t they stay home and break some of their own belongings? Why do they have to go out and wreak havoc on other people’s memories?
That really irks me. I appreciate your beautiful musings on what the deeper meaning is, but I think that all that could have been done without the actual crime being committed.
Think of how you would feel if you spent all the time and money picking out a memorial statue for someone you love - your mother, your sister - and somebody comes along and decides to snap off a piece of it. It doesn’t seem so romantic now, eh?
As a photographer, I lament the defacement of cemeteries everywhere. Teenagers smash the mausoleum stained glass windows with beer bottles, people tip over headstones, ruining pieces of history forever, and now there’s someone snapping the fingers off of angels. Great. Just great.
- Elysia
Comment by Elysia — Saturday April 16 2005 @ 7:45 am
You have a good point. I guess I’m saved by coming along after the crime was comitted. It’s a very favourable position.
Still though, I would like to know how the same effect could have been achieved without anything untoward happening. Any ideas?
Comment by Mark — Saturday April 16 2005 @ 6:07 pm
*irritated*
perhaps a post on history is in order…
Comment by Mark — Saturday April 16 2005 @ 6:26 pm
You came along after the crime was committed? In your blog you said, “This person I was with looked about for anyone watching, then snapped the index finger from the angel’s upraised hand.” It sounded like you kinda were there at the time, and were condoning it by making it all romantic and stuff.
I know you probably got pissed at my comments, but I have been irked for such a long time about people defacing cemeteries that it all just came out at once. I know you didn’t DO it.
Thanks for allowing comments from people that you may not agree with.
8-)
Comment by Marcheline — Tuesday April 19 2005 @ 11:48 am
I would only like to state, for the record that a) IRL, what happened was not really forseeable or under my control and b) I’m not interested in deciding whether anything was right or wrong, but posing the question in a way that might make it more difficult to decide.
Your comments are always welcome.
Comment by Mark — Tuesday April 19 2005 @ 12:59 pm
Word.
Comment by Marcheline — Sunday April 24 2005 @ 3:12 am