The rain softly washed the silent city, dulling the rising sun’s sharp rays under a gentle haze of heaven’s lightly falling tears. In this diffused light, the mourners gathered in somber arrays.
Like a wedding hall with the two families to be joined sitting one to one side and one to another, so too as morning broke, two sides faced each other across the open grave.
Here, in the heart of the city, the tombstones were not unlike the towering buildings; the rain fell and ran off these monuments as well as others, and the height of heaven made the difference seem small.
The shadows were pregnant with eyes, eyes what gleamed in the night, while those that stood in the gentle light bore eyes bright with tears. The minister chanted, praying for peace and rest and light, for these blessings eternally to grant.
The light did shine, a soft radiance through the clouds, setting the tears and falling droplets aglow. The spades set to work, and the casket disappeared under the earth. A stone in the fashion of an angel spread marble arms over the head of the silent man below, reaching down with open hands to the grave, his face bent toward the upturned dirt, his drooping hood, carved to look as mutably free as fabric, ran with rivulets of gathered rain.
A raven braved the dreary weather and perched beside the cowled head of the angel. It turned its black eye upon the grave and gave out one long, mournful caw which was answered in the shadowy branches of a tree which the dawn and day had yet to reach. Many such harsh voices took up the cry.
The wet stones glistened, and as the ravens’ voices died, only the sound of rain continued, a soft, drizzling song of light and tears. The city was waking to the day, preparing for another rush, this day a rush in bad and slippery conditions. There would be accidents. The shadows returned to wherever they hide, taking with them the testimony of all they had seen.
And the priest prayed, for he had buried one of those called a “son of God,” and there were too few of them to spare.
Psst! Hey kid, wanna buy a book?
Tale Told 