Til Death Do Us Part

A statuesque figure At 5'10" dressed in all black - stood silently facing a single grave in Buners Memory Gardens Mortuary & Cemetery. What once had been twinkling blue eyes that generated so much warmth and wisdom, today were dull and blank. In his hands, a single bouquet of black lilies. The dark gray headstone had two perched silver angels on either side. The words, the very words running through his mind. He didn't know how to explain it at all. Months had passed since it happened, she had only been seventy-five. Tonight the sounds of laughter filled the air, children running past in costumes for All Hallow's Eve. Tonight, he was mute to the world. Lost in his own memories.

Lost in his own pain. His own grief. So many had been there for him... but none of it mattered, the sickness in his heart compounded everything else and turned it all to ash.

Ash.

Ashes to ashes.

Dust to dust.

Stepping forward, he crouched in silence to place the flowers before the headstone. As he returned to his height... eyes closed and tears began to fall. He had known her all his life... no one had rattled him like she had. They had been married for thirty years. And though he was closing in on eighty-two himself, he still looked as dapper and dashing as he had the very first day they met. Their children grown and gone, the memories now lost.

Hurt boiling deep in his heart, he turned and moved to the waiting car. Slipping inside, the driver escorted him away.

As it starts to rain, the specks of water dampen the words on the marker.

Lady Heather Grissom
1963-2038
Beloved Wife, Mother
"My lady will lead me,
even in death"

Grissom's loss was inexplicable.

Oh I, I just died in your arms tonight
It must have been something you said
I just died in your arms tonight...