He Was Good

 

We moved slowly, pausing thoughtfully,

yet cheerfully through the colonial cemetery

of Warford, Massachusetts,

where old people and babies died

before the United States existed.

The inscriptions, when legible,

were quaint, interesting.

Back in those days a man

might be buried together with his "consort."

Lots of small stones on small spaces

for small bodies, reminded us of some history.

 

Some lengthy paragraphs paid for:

"Francis Barclay, honest farmer,

blessed with fourteen offspring,

loyal to his neighbors and to God."

 

Who chose the words? we wondered,

after editing each stone.

Then we came to one decorated with

simple-faced angels and a tree:

"Resting place for Jonathan Pease.

He was good xxxxxxxx"

Kind of brief" I commented.

"Almost an insult" my partner said.

Nothing further, except some ice-worn

letters that we could not read.

We worked at it, finally made out

the letter "h" and then an "a"

and somehow the word became

visible like gray sand on black gravel:

"harmless."

"What's that about?" I wondered.

Did they really mean it?

Was he just plain good,

or just a pain in the ass?

What would have been the outcome

of this person for being "good?"

Was he burned in his house?

Hanged from that tree and battered

to death for being "good, harmless."

 

We continued our stroll through

that old place honoring the dead,

and kept coming back to

"He was good, harmless."

We could not let go of our theory

that the inscription was really

a hidden message, a secret code

from Medieval Europe transplanted

to a cold and bare wilderness

that meant the man was distant,

alone in his virtue, disliked, even

shunned and rejected silently while

being included superficially in the

routine commerce of the colony.

Trade a rake for June's straw.

But what can you do with a person

who is good, harmless?

How do you talk to them?

What do they eat?

What do they do in the dark night

in the privacy of their home

behind their closed and locked doors?

 

We concluded that he probably was good,

compared to others probably,

but was disliked because he was good.

Made others appear less good,

those who needed to be more good.

 

Copyright 2026, John G. Medeiros