For this week, write a fiction or creative non-fiction piece in which an epitaph features prominently.

What is an epitaph? It is a short text honoring a deceased person, often etched on tombstones. It may be a poem, a bit of lyrics, or a quote. Edgar Lee Masters famously developed an entire community through his fictional epitaphs.

The Epitaph Browser may inspire you as well.

This can be a short as the epitaph itself, or the epitaph can be part of a longer story. As our New Year’s gift to you, this will have a hefty word limit: 500 words or less.

_______________________

The weathered tombstone on the left reads:

Here lies a young woman, we dare not utter her name,
Her husband looks away, her children cry in shame.

Her deed was one that she tried to sweep away,
Sure that her sin would stay covered for another day.

Instead it grew and finally overtook her life,
Such a horrid sin for such a perfect wife.

So if you stand here looking down upon her hole.
Know that a messy house will curse your mortal soul.

The newer stone on the right:

Here lies a very old man, preceded years earlier by his wife.
She left him a messy house and he cursed her life.

Time taught him that the time she never spent with a broom,
Was nothing when she never again graced his room.

Focused more on the things that she did not do around the house,
He learned his lessons on what made a good spouse.

It was the love, smiles and fun she had brought to their days,
Not her scattered and messy little ways.

*Blogger Note: I do not want a job ever in my life to engrave someone’s last words.

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