A Child's Epitaph by Michael R burch

"I lived as best I could, and then I died.
Be careful where you step: the grave is wide." Michael R. burch


When I read this I felt my soul moved because it says I lived as best I could and right now that’s how I feel but it seems like sometimes that’s not enough to get you where you want to be. Then a disconnect happens with the next couple of words when it says Then I died. I’m still alive I have a chance to make all mistakes that I’ve made count for something. Obviously the situation at hand is that the author/poet didn’t have my same privilege. It goes on to say be careful where you step. I’m now thinking what you have already died what do you mean? After that it says the grave is wide. This lets me know where he’s from there’s more people who suffered the same fate as he. As I stop reading I realize this was a poem about the affects of genocide because that’s what I’m learning in my class. So, his poem speaks volumes when I read it because he says the grave is wide. That statement is great way to let us all know his way of living is jeopardized everyday. Also that others he’s around suffer continuously. With the first line being I lived the best that I could this means there’s nothing he or his people can do. This is to me a soft spoken way to say help the grave is growing and if you need him to say more than the grave is wide then you have no soul. That’s why the poem is so short. We shouldn’t have to be dazzled and creative with saying my people is dying, I’m dying, it will not stop. When we see one death we should see why and help it not happen again.