HER EPITAPH PLAIN

[Maureen K Clifford]

HER EPITAPH PLAIN


Travelers pass , they don't know that it's there. In the scrub it is hidden away.
A green grassy knoll near a river gums bole, a beautiful place people say.
There's a slash on the River gums trunk, where someone has peeled bark aside
in the shape of a cross it depicts one mans loss, and it's done with a bushmans fierce pride.

Many years ago the story goes, this place was a homesteaders dream.
Where he cleared and he planted, and fenced, alongside the clear running stream.
But sickness and pain was to come, one sad day when he returned home.
He found that his bride had sickened and died, leaving him and the young boy alone.

Filled with grief for the wife he adored, with his heart just bursting with pain,
he had fashioned a cross on the Gum, to eternally mark her remains.
He had carved deep two hearts intertwined, carved them right next to her name
for he knew as the Gum grew those two hearts would grow too . This was her epitaph plain.

He hadn't the will to go on, for his heart had lost its sweetest song.
So he left with the boy,he no longer enjoyed the days by the river so long.
Where they went, well nobody knows, they traveled wherever wind blows.
The cross still remains, her epitaph plain, and two hearts embrace 'My lovely Rose.'

Travelers pass, they don't know that it's there. In the scrub it is hidden away.
A green grassy knoll near a River Gums bole, a beautiful place all would say.
It is said that on still summer nights, that Rose sits and silently yearns..
A wraith softly weeping, her long tresses drifting, she waits for her lovers return.

time passes...................

Many years have passed by since then, and visitors here have been few
but once again movement is seen, a battered Ute comes into view.
A tall man with shovel in hand, with a tin and one old hessian sack,
is walking the track to the Gum, it seems that the young boy is back.

No longer a child but a man, he sees the old Gum tree ahead
He looks not to right or to left, his feet know the path that they tread.
Once more the lovers unite, as he strews ashes beneath the tree.
He hears his Dads voice in his head - “Thanks Son this is where I should be”

The sun blazes down on the man, the summer day humid and bright,
but under the shade of the Gum, the two hearts stand out silvery white.
He picks up his shovel and sack, pausing for a moments reflection,
then moves out again to the track, now sure of his final direction.

The sack held a bare rooted rose, when in bloom its flowers would be red.
'Love everlasting' - a vigorous rose, sweetly perfumed – the store label said.
He planted the rose with great care, in a spot that he thought would be right
where the sunlight and rain would nurture its growth and its fragrance would sweeten the night.

Travelers pass , they don't know that it's there. In the scrub it is hidden away.
A green grassy knoll near a River Gums bole, and a beautiful rose bush they say.
There's a slash on the River Gums trunk, two hearts have been carved intertwined
Now William Fitzpatrick and Rose are together, their epitaphs finally combined.

Maureen Clifford ©

[Trisha Patterson]

Beautiful story Maureen... ...almost got the hanky out!
Trisha

[Irene]

Hi Maureen
Lovely story!! Very much enjoyed it.

catchya
Irene

[Heather]

Agreed, a beautiful story Maureen.

Heather