The Lamb, Asleep

Look low.

On the smallest gravestones, the carving is often a lamb.

It is usually lying down. Often asleep. Sometimes a small cross stands behind.

It is the commonest symbol on infants’ stones.

The Victorians buried far more children than we do, and the lamb said what words couldn’t:

• innocence
• gentleness
• a small life, safely kept

Beside it, often, two dates very close together.

Rain and lichen have worn many of them smooth, the way a favourite toy is worn. Some have lost their faces entirely. The shape still reads.

The tenderest carving in a cemetery is rarely the tallest.