A Poem and a Photograph for Hill Country: The Broken Chain

by Terry Thornton
email: hillcountrymonroecounty@gmail.com

While photographing grave markers in a cemetery last week, I found an excellent example of the "broken chain" symbol. The carved broken-chain image on the stone of Thomas Christian in Walton Cemetery, Itawamba County, bears mute testimony of the sorrow a missing link has on a family --- a chain is no stronger than its weakest link --- and if a link is missing, the chain is broken. The symbol imagery is strong and evocative.

John Ruskin wrote a long poem, The Broken Chain, which contains lines which may be used to describe the grief one feels over the death of a beloved spouse. The following lines were taken from various portions of The Broken Chain.

. . .The silence of her voice was broken,

As by a gasp of mental pain:

May the faith thou hast forgotten

Bind thee with its broken chain. . . (page 131)

. . . Through the dimly woven forest

Comes the cry of one in pain ---

May the faith thou hast forgotten

Bind thee with its broken chain. . . (page 139)

. . . There was another echo in his ear ---

An under murmur deep and clear,

The faint low sob of one in pain:

May the faith thou hast forgotten

Bind thee with its broken chain. . . (page 146)

. . . Passed on the air, in passion broken,

The faint low sob of one in pain ---

Lo! the faith thou hast forgotten

Bind thee with its broken chain. . . (page 159)

SOURCES:

Broken chain photograph, detail from the grave marker of Thomas Christian, 1827 - 1911, Walton Cemetery, Itawamba County, Mississippi, March 7, 2010, Terry Thornton, Fulton, Mississippi.

The Broken Chain by John Ruskin. From The Complete Works of John Ruskin. New York: Longmans, Green and Company. 1903. Pages 124 - 180.

A Valentine Poem: Little Creature Formed of Joy and Mirth

by Terry Thornton
email: hillcountrymonroecounty@gmail.com

This year instead of the usual "roses are red, violets are blue, how do I love thee, let me count the ways" sort of poem I normally write for Sweetie, I thought I'd take a three-line poem-thought/fragment from William Blake (English poet , 1757 - 1827) and expand it slightly.

LITTLE CREATURE FORMED OF JOY AND MIRTH

For My Valentine in the Year 2010

The angel who presided at my birth

Said: "Little creature, formed of joy and mirth,

Go, love, without the help of anything on earth."

But I found you to love and with joy and mirth

We created little creatures at whose births

We said: "Go, love, while you are on the earth."

And forth they went to love on earth

Creating creatures at whose birth

Was said: "Go, love, with joy and mirth."

I say the angel presiding at my birth

Placed you, little creature of joy and mirth,

In my path so I could find you here on earth.

Happy Valentine's Day.

With apology to William Blake whose poem fragment "The angel who presided at my birth" are the first three lines above. Source: The Poems of William Blake, Edited by W.B. Keats. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. 1893. Page 143.