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Your epitaph?
Arising from a conversation I had with the Old Feller yesterday - what would you like to appear on your tombstone / as an epitaph?
I asked himself and he said - just one word "Generous" (which went to my head a bit and I had to go and lie down)
So - your turn!
I asked himself and he said - just one word "Generous" (which went to my head a bit and I had to go and lie down)
So - your turn!
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"Glad did I live and gladly die,
And I laid me down with a will.
This be the verse you grave for me:
Here he lies where he longed to be;
Home is the sailor, home from sea,
And the hunter home from the hill."
It's from a poem called "Requiem" by Robert Louis Stevenson and, as he requested, is written on his headstone on Mount Vaea in Samoa.
Someone once posted the epitaph of a friend, who passed away, that is actually on her headstone. I think it is one I might like as well.
"The greatest testament to the life I have lived is that some very beautiful people loved me."
"I died before you did! I win!"
I'm not so sure about that one, so I think I might go with this one instead...
Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
I always liked John Donne.
BOO!
do not
truly
EXIST
solely constituted by myself.
therefore, on many'a stone is carved:
My All I give to all that is pure and loving
And I, each spring, AM REBORN in the new green grass,
green blades worshipping golden,
warming orb that bringeth forth rainclouds
to refresh, and dews
to bud forth between teeming jubilant grasses.
Palzang
W C Fields! (can't say as I have never been to Philadelphia!)
Very good! Although in actuality Mr. Fields' tombstone has no epitaph on it. This was just his proposal for his epitaph (and it's not an exact quote anyway).
Palzang
Don't know what kind of epitaph that is. LOL!
A sky burial....
or to be given to science.....
or to have an ecological burial (legal here in the UK)
or just find a black biodegradable bin liner and an ocean-going voyage to somewhere.
I want the least possible fuss.....
but at my memorial service I want disc six of TNH Retreat on Mindfullness played.
Force everyone to hear a darma talk.
It finishes with a vietnamese death song, with whispered english translation between lines.
Two lines of which are:
There is no birth and death,
Life and death is but a hide and seek game.
After much thought, profound reflection, and advice from various family members, I've finally decided upon:
Wherever you be
Let your wind blow free.
For keeping it in
Was the death of me.
Me too!
A flashy funeral pray let me have
With six bold highwaymen to carry me
Give them good broadswords, give them good broadswords and sweet liberty
Six pretty maidens to bear my pall
Give them white garlands and ribbons all
And when I'm dead, they will speak the truth
He was a wild and, he was a wild and a wicked youth
The Newry Highwayman - Traditional
Love the poem The Highwayman by Alfred Noyes.
There speaks the Cornish-woman!
Hee hee hee!
Speaking of grave yards we had a rather amusing bitter/sweet experience recently. My hubby sadly lost both his parents , Jessie and Ron last year and they were duly cremated, but due to administrative hold-ups they weren't interred till recently. We had been told that because the ash interment area of the graveyard was a conservation area (it's in the village where Sir Isaac Newton grew up and had his 'apple' enlightenment) Mum and Dad -in -law were to be both sprinkled in the same grave, no caskets allowed. Which was fine by us; they'd be together again and it's very eco-friendly.
But when we got there for the interment, we discovered the funeral directors (who weren't there) had sealed shut their caskets! Hubby's brother muttered something about getting them open and went back to the car as the vicar arrived carrying a spade for earth sprinkling. We updated her as to the situation just as brother-in-law arrived back from his car carrying a hammer and chisel! The vicar's face was a picture of horror and you could see the possible ghastly scenarios passing through her mind! Then quick as a flash she said 'We'll leave them in their caskets'. However, the prepared hole was too small for two caskets, so she handed hubby the spade and said 'How's your digging?'
Hubby ended up digging another grave next to the first and we were able to bury them together, but separately, which was nice. On the question of who went in which grave, I suggested we put them in on the sides they slept, so they'd be comfortable, Jessie on the right, Ron on the left. This was agreeable to all and now their remains lie at last in a beautiful ancient churchyard, covered with wild flowers.
Of course, being a Buddhist I can't be sure Jessie and Ron were watching this performance (at least 6 months after their passing). Part of me hopes they were though...they'd have had a jolly good laugh at us!