On Sunday, October 10, 1999, a small group of family and friends walked down a cemetery lane to attend the unveiling of my father's tombstone.

Since his funeral last February, rows of new headstones had appeared., as if an infernal gardener had summoned the gray monuments from the earth. The weather throughout our trip was splendid--dazzlingly bright days. But on Sunday, the heavens poured down rain, reminding us all of our grim duty.

Row upon row with strict impunity
The headstones yield their names to the element.
--Allen Tate

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We huddled beneath umbrellas, each of us lost in our own thoughts, while the mourners slowly assembled beside the veiled headstone. Little houses in a row, Down a quiet lane; Neither doors nor windows know, Peace and darkness reign. Though you cannot pay the rent, You will dwell there with the best. Where the weary, broken, spent, Find eternal rest! --Isaac Peretz

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