This cemetery is especially stark, with that jumble of mostly unmarked wooden crosses and piles of rock marking gravesites. It’s hot – so hot that candles melt, leaving greasy marks on the rocks. Many of the graves are those of miners, who succumbed to the occupational hazards in nearby mercury mines, which began production in 1903. Other graves are from the influenza epidemic of 1918-19. And still others are recent. They are crowded together (the complete site is only about an acre) and it’s easy to get scratches from mesquite trees or poked by cactus thorns.

But it is also especially beautiful, with a view across to the Chisos Mountains and Big Bend National Park and that half moon, one week away from the first full moon of the year, hanging in the sky.

Terlingua Cemetery
Terlingua, Texas
photographed 1.20.2013

(I am gone for a while, and will not be responding to comments right away. But make some anyway, if you feel inclined, and I’ll get back to you – it just won’t be right away.)