I am on the board and a member of Village Lakes Writers and Poets here in Bella Vista. We recently were fortunate to acquire a lease for the historic Dug Hill Chapel as our new home and meeting place. In the picture you can see a small cemetery behind the building. Over the years, the Chapel has been a church, school and community center. It speaks to us. We will be busy refurbishing, cleaning, and renovating the little building to meet our needs. It’s the time of the year that the ghosts of the past speak out to us. We are so excited to begin this new adventure in this old building. And so I write…

We Listen

We listen.
Can you hear it?

Voices of ancient spirits whisper—
The past
Speaking to the future,
Carrying songs of praise,
Prayers of anguish, struggle,
Searching with hope.

Soft scratchings of
Murmured memories rise
While the tolling bell
Calls bodies to gather:
Infants, elderly,
Young, old,
Teens and twenties,
Mothers,
Fathers,
Settle at once together
To listen,
Learn, and share
Amidst the
Mewling cries,
Occasional raucous laughter, and
Whispered shared secrets.

The shadowed walls speak of
Scribbled lessons
Taught and learned,
Etched into hearts and minds
Richly layered with thick, slathered paint
Applied with steady hands
Year after year after year.
At last, bits peel away
Revealing pointed adjurations
Rising from
Shavings of wood,
Cracked glass,
Pebbled stone,
Reminders to remember.
Reaching out,
Touching,
Teaching voices from the past.
Curling tendrils of
Songs, love,
Words and wisdom
Filled with aching, overarching hope.
The spirits speak to us.

We listen.
©gailleecowdin 2021