Osiana

 Osiana Kemp

john clare 

All that remained on

The terrible Twenty-sixth

April of twenty-three

Were the roses that

Spread in the shade

Of the pitch pine porch

The delicate pink petals

Sought for the weddings

And altar displays up at

Hopewell, placed there

Lovingly by Ola and Osiana

Scorched now from the

Intense flames

No wedding bouquet for her

Dreams of crossing oceans

Far from Benton gone

The flames in the spilling 

Of the kerosene lantern

Taking her away.

She came in May of O Nine, 

She held on til the first day

Of May, twenty three

With a spray of pink roses

For Osiana.

The Shining Congregation

Hopewell Baptist

Extreme Northern Columbia Co.

Some members, noted little Osiana Kemp, upper left, burned to death in a house fire trimming the lantern.