A moving tribute to lost souls
AND FINALLY
IT WAS sunny and cold as I stood last Saturday among bluebells and primroses in Bristol’s Arnos Vale Cemetery, to unveil a new memorial.
The local branch of SANDS (Stillbirth and Neonatal Death charity) had heard about an untended part of the beautiful old 45-acre site, where stillborn babies were interred without ceremony or headstone in less enlightened times.
Some would surely have been ‘illegitimate’ births and standing on the rough ground that covered them, I could imagine shame as well as sorrow.
To remember those little lost souls ( and that particular bereavement all of us there had suffered), the marvellous men and women who invited me had worked hard over many months to raise funds.
The result is a handsome stone monument that includes these moving words: ‘Be still, close your eyes, breathe, listen for my footfall in your heart.’ It offers consolation: ‘ We are not gone but merely walk within you.’
This was not a sad occasion. Honour is given when you recollect even those you did not know. My short speech linked that thought to this time of year. To a Christian (and we are still a Christian culture), Easter means resurrection.
If you don’t share that faith, you will recognise renewal. Rebirth. Regeneration. Revival in nature. And it’s a genuine reawakening when a society shifts attitude — demonstrated by the fact that little ones who never drew breath are no longer just shovelled away as if they didn’t matter. They are allowed Remembrance.
I treasure that beautiful instruction of Jesus which expresses compassion: ‘Suffer the little children . . . to come unto me.’
As I stood in that atmospheric place, moved, placing flowers, I thought of those words — and of Easter eggs and hope and my grandchildren, and the precious sharing of experience.
And the distant song of birds was full of soul as well as joy.
Bel answers readers’ questions on emotional and relationship problems each week. Write to Bel Mooney, Daily Mail, 2 Derry Street, london W8 5TT, or email bel.mooney@dailymail.co.uk. Names are changed to protect identities. Bel reads all letters but regrets she cannot enter into personal correspondence.