A Place I like Best

Nowhere else in Yale is there a more peaceful place than Grove Cemetery. I have experienced the silence of Bass Library and quiescence of the Art Gallery, but only Grove Cemetery can put my mind at ease in a relaxing way.

Trees in Grove Cemetery

Located north of Beinecke Library, Grove Cemetery is home to local flora and fauna. Great oak trees and others I cannot name, most of which measure more than 30 feet, stand proudly by the path. Colorful flowers are blooming everywhere, full of vital force and dot the grass like twinkling stars in the night sky. Birds sing in the tree and squirrels jump from one tree to another with their bushy tail. As few people visit there, the Cemetery is like a secret garden for Yale.

A Gravestone with a Lily on it

On the lawn are thousands of various gravestones. Some are tall and grand, some are tiny and simple. Maybe because of the upcoming Independence Day, American flags fly in the breeze in front of some gravestones. One gravestone has a delicate lily carved on it and reminds me of Tagore’s verse “let life like the summer flower”. And another has the epitaph of “beloved wife”, so I imagine her death must have been heartbreaking for her husband. Yale Presidents rest here, along with Yale alumnus who made contributions to human history. Noah Webster, the persevering man who spent 26 years compiling a dictionary, sleeps under a humble gravestone eroded by weather as time goes by while his dictionary is still used by people all over the world.

A Grand Gravestone

Strolling alone down the path, I feel as if the whole earth and sky are mine and I have stepped outside my usual self into another world. I can think of whatever I please or of nothing at all, and it gives me a sense of freedom. All onerous trivia can be disregarded. I just become immersed in the tranquility and peace with thousands of souls who have a glorious life and eternally sleep here in the end.

Endless peace surrounds me gently in its soft embrace and nothing can intrude upon me in Grove Cemetery, the place I like best in Yale.