meeting elizabeth @ the ennis friary
The Ennis Friary is a 13th-century Franciscan friary. You can read about it at heritageireland.ie
The ruins are beautiful. There is a barrel-vaulted room located to the north of the chancel that I find very peaceful. As I stand in the dimly lit space, I wonder what the room was like filled with activity, filled with life. Today it is filled only with ledger stones. I read inscriptions trying to imagine who the people were and what their lives were like more than 150 years ago. Names with birth and death dates is not much for the imagination. It is nearly impossible for me to relate to them. Standing in silence struggling to find a connection, my eyes drift down to the inscription on the stone beside me.
Sacred to the memory of Elizabeth the beloved wife of Serjeant Walter Samuel Marson of the 63rd Regiment who departed this life at Clare Castle on the 26th Sept 1851 Aged 22 years Also an infant child of the above aged 9 days The best of wives the ground encloseth here both to her husband and to her children dear she’s gone awhile before a debt to pay OLord prepare us all for that great day
Although just a few moments earlier I struggled to find a connection, Elizabeth’s inscription touched my heart. Her ledger stone contained loving words unlike the other stones with only factual information. Serjeant Walter Samuel Marson’s gentle tender expression of love allowed me to feel his sadness, to feel his pain. I know that sadness, I know that pain. It comes from a broken heart over the loss of a loved one. It comes from love. My heart ached as I thought of Walter comforting his children as they said farewell to his wife and child. A woman who he had become one with and a child who he had created yet would never know. My thoughts turned to Elizabeth, I remembered the feeling of love and joy when I first held my newborn, my amazement of birth and excitement of counting his little fingers and toes. Was it the same for Elizabeth? Did she experience the miracle and joy of birth? Thinking of the birth followed by death, I wonder which of the two departed first. My life has taught me of death, it is a journey one must make alone. Elizabeth would come into acceptance that her lover and children would not accompany her and all possessions must be left behind. The passage requires us to depart as lightly as we arrive. I have experienced the soul departing the body then returning for only a second. I have often thought of this as the soul capturing one last moment while delivering a final goodbye. I wonder if Elizabeth returned for a moment. If so, did she find Walter by her bedside? I pray in her final moments she gathered love and tucked it deep into her soul along with the other precious memories she created while here on earth. In a moment, Elizabeth was gone. In a moment, everything would change for Walter and their children. In a moment, an unexpected life detour arrived delivering sadness, pain, anger, and emptiness. I pray they allowed love to comfort and heal them. Still standing in the dimly lit space lost in my thoughts I feel a chill only for a moment as it gives way to warm sunlight flowing through the window behind me. The warmth moves me to the sound of laughter, late-night whispers and the feeling of excitement. I smile as memories of moments flow through me, gentle tender moments of joy, happiness, and love.
As I stand in the dimly lit space, I now recognize each of the souls laid to rest beneath the ledger stones - each one as an expression of love. Leaving Ennis Friary, I stroll through the village, the calm, peaceful atmosphere that I found in the vaulted room accompanies me. As I continue my journey, I am coming into the realization of the magnitude of moments. We carelessly let them slip by without reverence yet the current moment is all that is truly ours. Past moments fade into memories while future moments are merely dreams. The moments drift away as we fail to understand our connection to each other. If we were to stop and connect deeply with others, perhaps we would understand the depth of similarities instead of the minor differences that separate us. By meeting Elizabeth, I discovered common emotions with a stranger who lived more than 150 years ago. Imagine how deeply I could connect with you if only we both dropped our emotional and society shields. I will never forget Elizabeth or the wisdom that she delivered.
