Although I do not consider myself morbid or melancholy by nature, I often find myself gravitating toward cemeteries. I find them to be places of meditation, discovery, and pilgrimage. While living in Yellowstone, I once made a pilgrimage to Ernest Hemingway's grave in the Sawtooths. Around that time, I also visited the grave of John Steinbeck in California and that of Jimi Hendrix in Seattle. A few years later while living in Bohemia, I visited the grave of Goethe in Weimar, Germany. The purpose of my cemetery visits is to stand in front of the final resting place of someone that I respect and quietly thank that person for how he or she has made life better for others.
Recently I was told that an important cowboy by the name of Bose Ikard is buried in Weatherford, Texas. Ikard was a former slave, and he was Charles Goodnight's right hand man. He is perhaps best known as the prototype for Joshua Deets in Lonesome Dove. Both Ikard and cattleman Oliver Loving are buried in that cemetery. I have not yet ventured there, but I plan to in the coming weeks.
Charles Goodnight wrote this epitaph for Bose Ikard:
No comments:
Post a Comment