They say that when you die
you’re not really dead
until no one remembers you
I was a conqueror
A thousand stone faces
remember my deeds
Most graves say nothing
They tell no stories to the living
The dead can find sweet relief
Not so for me
I am doomed
to live forever
— H. Walker Jones, May 2017
Meghan and I were looking at headstones in a cemetery and I lamented how the peoples’ stories are lost — wouldn’t it be neat if each headstone had a short biography of the deceased?
Upon reflection I realized that we might not do so for a reason. How does one summarize an entire life onto a single piece of granite? What does it mean when a headstone doesn’t have a biography, or if people compete on the length and detail of their biographies? Or what if we don’t do it because if prevents the dead from finding their final rest because nobody truly forgets them?