Randy E. Richmond

AN EPITAPH

It’s said that you can’t take it with you
Quite true of riches bright
We leave behind all we accrue
When our last breath takes flight

Things that give comfort to our lives
Remain here when we’ve gone
The pleasure of a morning sunrise
Stays as another’s dawn

Those we love won’t travel with us
Though some have gone before
No baggage such as grief or fuss
When death has closed our door

Can’t bring along our 4-wheel drive
Or favorite fishing pole
Nothing saved while we’re alive
Except immortal soul

Still, when this world we depart
We take some treasure true
Graciously given by America’s heart
Of the proud ‘Red, White, and Blue’

We take nothing more than flesh and bone
Save this and family name
May they etch these words into my stone,
‘Born with freedom; died with same’