Resources for Loss

"Gravedigger" by Dave Matthews, contributed by Gorham Partington (2021)

“Gravedigger” reminds us that every loss is unique. Walking through a graveyard, Matthews reads gravestones and epitaphs. He adds commentary, including his own desire to hold onto part of life by making his grave shallow to “feel the rain” after he dies. In the individual epitaphs, Matthews illustrates how the loss of a person is specific to both the lost one’s story and the grief experienced by those affected. Each epitaph displays a life condensed into a finite description as part of a physical memorial that creates a permanent reminder of the lost one’s life. Memorials can be powerful in acknowledging and making meaning from a loss.

Lyrics
Cyrus Jones 1810 to 1913
Made his great grandchildren believe
You could live to a hundred and three
A hundred and three is forever when you're just a little kid
So Cyrus Jones lived forever

[Chorus]:
Gravedigger
When you dig my grave
Could you make it shallow
So that I can feel the rain
Gravedigger

Muriel Stonewall
1903 to 1954
She lost both of her babies in the second great war
Now you should never have to watch
As your only children lowered in the ground
I mean you should never have to bury your own babies

[Chorus]

Ring around the rosy
Pocket full of posy
Ashes to ashes
We all fall down

[Chorus]

Little Mikey Carson 67 to 75
He rode his
Bike like the devil until the day he died
When he grows up he wants to be Mr. Vertigo on the flying trapeze
Oh, 1940 to 1992

[Chorus]

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