On a Gravestone

Written 17 July 2001 while I was in a reflective mood.

Stately slabs of granite stone
Hewn straight and polished, brightly shone
Stood in rows of their like kind
To bring remembrance to the mind
Of fallen heroes, friends and kin:
To mark the earth that they lay in.

Each etched with epitaphic prose
Engraved with tender words by those
Who yet still live and living still
Write and rewrite with love's soft quill
The deeds, misdeeds, pursuits, and fame
Of those from whom these mem'ries came.

A piece of stone to represent
A life in some pursuit was spent
A history of tales to tell,
Experience on which to dwell.
A single rock cannot portray
A life, nay e'en a single day!

O may we leave in hearts of men
A joyous witness that we've been.
So should we be unfortunate
And our graves not a capstone get
Though dead to Earth our bodies be,
We'll live in heav'n and memory.