Cuttlebone and Cobwebs

Epitaph

Stolen epitaph of memory

lined, with displaced neighbours

along the outer wall.

Or lain, as path slabs,

stretching t'ward the sacred space

which no longer has the time or place

for them to remain

married to the bones of whom

they tell the tale.

Etched words, though scant, fulfilled a need;

though commissioners may

be themselves below soil,

still they trusted 

epitaphs would remain

recognition for those loved lain

beneath a solid

genealogy for those

who follow on.