Morrisburg Cemetery
“For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withereth, and flower thereof falleth away. But the word of the Lord endureth forever. . . ” I Peter 1:24-25
At the edge
Of the Stuart Road
Sleep the Morrisburg souls.
A hilltop town
Flourishing for a time,
Before splintering
In a storm.
Without warning
Their time came.
Now years of serenity
Cover them
On this high curve.
Decades of summers
Shelter these souls.
A community of friends
Stilled, and now settled
Patiently at rest,
Men, women, children
awaiting the archangel call.
He will find them all
Here, south of Panora
Amid the tallgrass drifts.
— Nicholas Dowd (2014)
Joy: I knew that my great grandmother, Georgia Williams Davis Wilson, was buried at Morrisburg. It felt lonely, since her husband Daniel Wilson is buried at Coon Rapids among the Wilsons.
But recently a genealogist has been collecting information about Georgia Wilson’s descendants. He told me that there are at least thirty Williams relatives buried at Morrisburg. So Great Grandmother Georgia is among her family.
I had just re-savored Nick’s poem about the cemetery so asked if I could share it, along with the verse he began with. Ever gracious, he said, “Of course. That would be wonderful.”
A poignant blessing.
Nick also gave me his blessing to publish the poem to introduce Leora’s Early Years: Guthrie County Roots, which is also about her husband, Clabe Wilson’s early years. Georgia was his mother.