Ficlet Challenge - My Tombstone
Feb. 22nd, 2004 08:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
guide_beregondWhat do you want on your tombstone, and why?
Well, then, shall we draw our chairs closer to the fire, all the better to ward off the chill that finds the nape of the neck when death is the topic at hand? But, this is not my first ale of the evening, and I am not a young man any longer. I do believe that I am well beyond the raising of goosebumps at the thought of my own passing.
Some might find this a morbid question, but I see it in another light. I would like to think that my final resting place would be one of choice by my own kin, marked with a stone if they wished. So many of my fellow soldiers have been lost to the field of battle, in lands so dismal and hostile that a proper burial was impossibility. I have seen warriors fall under the enemy, even as we hastened a retreat. The families of those soldiers whose bodies were never recovered are deprived of having a quiet place to kneel and think upon the one they have lost.
Of course, I would hope that the span of years marked on my stone will show a great distance of time between the year of my birth and the year of my death!
Beyond this fond wish for a long and healthy life - the exact words of my epitaph do not matter much to me, as I will not be around to read them. I would hope for words that might bring peace to my son Bergil's heart, though. Something to make my boy proud enough of his father to one day bring his own wife and children by for a visit, perhaps to spend an afternoon near by, telling them the stories of my life.
Now that I think more upon this, I feel I am the man I am due in large part to those I keep company with. Perhaps, if I am lucky, my tombstone will read:
Son of Baranor
Husband of Berenith
Father of Bergil
Soldier of Gondor
Captain to Prince Faramir of Ithilien
Friend of Many
Beregond: Captain of the White Company, the Guard of Faramir Prince of Ithilien.
Fandom: The Lord Of The Rings
Word Count: 350
Well, then, shall we draw our chairs closer to the fire, all the better to ward off the chill that finds the nape of the neck when death is the topic at hand? But, this is not my first ale of the evening, and I am not a young man any longer. I do believe that I am well beyond the raising of goosebumps at the thought of my own passing.
Some might find this a morbid question, but I see it in another light. I would like to think that my final resting place would be one of choice by my own kin, marked with a stone if they wished. So many of my fellow soldiers have been lost to the field of battle, in lands so dismal and hostile that a proper burial was impossibility. I have seen warriors fall under the enemy, even as we hastened a retreat. The families of those soldiers whose bodies were never recovered are deprived of having a quiet place to kneel and think upon the one they have lost.
Of course, I would hope that the span of years marked on my stone will show a great distance of time between the year of my birth and the year of my death!
Beyond this fond wish for a long and healthy life - the exact words of my epitaph do not matter much to me, as I will not be around to read them. I would hope for words that might bring peace to my son Bergil's heart, though. Something to make my boy proud enough of his father to one day bring his own wife and children by for a visit, perhaps to spend an afternoon near by, telling them the stories of my life.
Now that I think more upon this, I feel I am the man I am due in large part to those I keep company with. Perhaps, if I am lucky, my tombstone will read:
Husband of Berenith
Father of Bergil
Soldier of Gondor
Captain to Prince Faramir of Ithilien
Friend of Many
Beregond: Captain of the White Company, the Guard of Faramir Prince of Ithilien.
Fandom: The Lord Of The Rings
Word Count: 350
