When I Consider My Grandfather's Grave

A gray stone sits on forgotten earth
     On a plot of land 'twixt church and pasture
Recording a name with two dates: death and birth
     Little else does the monolith capture

The graveyard is broken into a handful of spaces
     The ground is untrodden, the flowers are old
Thus is the fate of those who die in dying places
     Would be mourners have left seeking fortunes untold

The fool will pass by and from haughty observation
     Say "In life as in death were these people alone."
Yet they are remembered with sweet desperation
     Better seconds in memory than forever in stone