grave stone
墓碑
epitaph
墓誌銘
《EPITAPH ON A TYRANT》
阿鈍 (2003-03-22 13:45:34)
Perfection, of a kind, was what he was after
And the poetry he invented was easy to understand;
He knew human folly like the back of his hand,
And was greatly interested in armies and fleets;
When he laughed, respectable senators burst with laughter,
And when he cried the little children died in the streets.
--Wystan Hugh Auden
EPITAPH, n. An inscription on a tomb, showing that virtues acquired
by death have a retroactive effect. Following is a touching example:
Here lie the bones of Parson Platt,
Wise, pious, humble and all that,
Who showed us life as all should live it;
Let that be said -- and God forgive it!
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]
Epitaph Ep"i*taph, n. [F. ['e]pitaphe, L. epitaphium a funeral
oration, fr. Gr. ?, orig. an adj., over or at a tomb; 'epi`
upon + ? tomb. Cf. {Cenotaph}.]
1. An inscription on, or at, a tomb, or a grave, in memory or
commendation of the one buried there; a sepulchral
inscription.
Hang her an epitaph upon her tomb. --Shak.
2. A brief writing formed as if to be inscribed on a
monument, as that concerning Alexander: ``Sufficit huic
tumulus, cui non sufficeret orbis.''
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]
Epitaph Ep"i*taph, v. t.
To commemorate by an epitaph. [R.]
Let me be epitaphed the inventor of English hexameters.
--G. Harvey.
Epitaph:
The wall on which the prophets wrote
Is cracking at the seams.
Upon the instruments of death
The sunlight brightly gleams.
When every man is torn apart
With nightmares and with dreams,
Will no one lay the laurel wreath
As silence drowns the screams.
Between the iron gates of fate,
The seeds of time were sown,
And watered by the deeds of those
Who know and who are known;
Knowledge is a deadly friend
When no one sets the rules.
The fate of all mankind I see
Is in the hands of fools.
Confusion will be my epitaph.
As I crawl a cracked and broken path
If we make it we can all sit back
and laugh.
But I fear tomorrow I'll be crying,
Yes I fear tomorrow I'll be crying.
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