 Tue Jul 25, 2006 20:39 pm More from: "First Love" '2' |
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Hi Tom
Just to make sure you're able to get some sleep for a change  , I'll try to explain (reword) your text for you.
| Tom wrote: | Could you please explain the highlighted lines to me???
"Hereunder lies the above who up below
So hourly died that he survived till now. |
| Tom wrote: | | The second line limps a little perhaps, but that is no great matter, I will be forgiven more than that when I am forgotten. |
("The second line" seems to refer to the second line on the headstone: "So hourly died that he survived till now."). The second line is a little bit weak, but it doesn't really matter because when I'm gone (and forgotten) people will care about even less - less than what is written on my headstone.
| Tom wrote: | | Then with a little luck you hit on a genuine interment, with real live mourners and the odd relict rearing to throw herself into the pit. |
If you're lucky, you'll get a real funeral (burial), with people there to mourn you and maybe even a widow who's so unhappy about your death that she seems ready to fling herself into the grave with you.
| Tom wrote: | | And nearly always that charming business with the dust, though in my experience there is nothing less dusty than holes of the type, verging on muck for most part, nor anything particularly powdery about the deceased, unless he happen to have died by fire.No matter, their little gimmick with the dut is charming" |
And there's almost always the charming speech about dust, although there is nothing less dusty than a hole in the ground (grave), which is usually more similar to mud. And the dead person is also not dusty unless he was cremated. None of that matters, though, the little ceremonial speech is charming.
The reason dust is written about is that the phrase "ashes to ashes, dust to dust" is part of the burial rite from the Book of Common Prayer" and the priest says this prayer as earth is ceremonially thrown onto the coffin.
Amy
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Amy
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ESL teacher, translator, and a native speaker of American English |
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Yankee
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 16 Apr 2006
Posts: 6851
Location: USA
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