Psalm 23 on Stony Plain Road
I stopped to record this fragile scene yesterday. Motionless, protected from the December sun by a giant black umbrella, a figure wearing black boots sat pointed at a gravestone in the snow. The poise and publicness of this silent communication were remarkable. Out of the frame, automobile traffic streamed by this ritual response to an unimaginable event. What is happening? Are memories being replayed? Answers sought? The news of the day shared? A promise kept? And what is happening as I stare at the image, itself a recording of time vanished into the dark? Today, I pedalled back to Westlawn Memrorial Gardens and added my prints to those that led to and from the marker. One person, Johanna Hancock, is buried here. Johanna Hancock was born in Prospect, Clarendon, Jamaica in 1932. The gravestone is inscribed with the final line from Psalm 23: I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever . According to an online obituary, Joan Miller leaned into the world. At age ...