Delia

near the intersection of rivera
and the great highway
stone once holding the earth in place
uncovered by wind and last night's rain
lay open to daylight

the inscription read only
REST

DELIA PRESBY
wife of 
E.B. OLIVER
died April 9, 1890.
Aged 26 years.
10 months.
27 days.
REST

you and i
we wandered
searching for words
inscribed in the sand
and i never told you
how i breathed relief
not to find them nor to discover
your shared day of birth and death.
i chanted some earthy prayer
not to uncover her stone
after so many years of
holding still the earth
and the dead.

i singing:
did you hear this
on the day you were born,
the tide crashing against your
stone pillow, the waters roiled by wind?
did you imagine yourself
buried beneath the sand
heavy with salt and sea?
did you dream this,
your eternal home?
your inscription reading only
REST

121 years.
7 months.
10 days.
REST


*http://www.sfexaminer.com/sanfrancisco/ocean-beach-gusts-reveal-headstones-sf-history/Content?oid=2199952