The Gravedigger's Skull

Every gravedigger has a skull, every skull has a gravedigger

A skull will lie in the dust, no longer left to waiting. Sitting there, it’s remnants of memory are lost to life, all pieces of existence paid to death. What is there in a skull, to show the person that it used to inhabit? There is no hair, no lips, no eyes. A skull shows no gender.

To the gravedigger with his malice pick it is no different, each skull the same as the next. With a heavy trawl he pushes against the earth, defying the force of nature placed as a final barrier. There is no careful action as the wooden hand is prised upon the air. The gravedigger’s mind is not racing, he knows how he does not pause to stare, nor consider the life that once lived but thrives no longer. In the end it is not a persons’ body that will be remembered.

The skull is the first to be lifted from the bed of eternity, tossed in the hands of the gravedigger. Without gloves he feels the callouses, the spaces where there used to be eyes, lips, hair. He does not know its gender.

The body of bones he lets keep, rustling their frail limbs amongst the fickle linings. It is easy, a murmur comes, to claim the pieces left for their life beyond. The gravedigger slips what he gains into a small bag, slung to the side in an act of carelessness. Bag and bones alike.

The skull takes its rest upon the side, gathering cold that will not be felt. When done the gravedigger takes it to his hand, returns it to the head. The other bones do not show a form of order, left to continue their rest in the gravedigger’s careless choice. Air is once again left to the living.

The gravedigger leaves the grave, leaves the body, leaves the skull. He has taken his jewels, his diamonds of living. There is no more thought paid as he forgets the feeling of the skull in his hands. Soon he will catch another.

The gravedigger each time, will consider the skull, consider its wait, consider his own wait. When the future comes a skull will lie in its grave, no longer showing a remnant of memory. As the gravedigger now steals upon a skull, one day a man will come and steal upon his own. The new gravedigger then will think the same, and will only pause as he holds the skull in his hands. Never will he know the antics they shared, nor will he care just as his bag will lie careless in the dirt.

A skull will lie there, waiting without knowledge for the gravedigger to disrupt its settlement. The memory of its being will be indifferent to the act upon it.

Either way, it is just a skull. One that shows no traits of what used to be. No hair, no lips, no eyes. There is no gender. There is no life. There is no gravedigger.

 

Reviews

[Manuel A Hurtado]

I greatly enjoyed your use of description of homogeneity throughout, save only at the end, when the already clearly expressed concept became too straightforward (which would not be a problem if you hadn't displayed it much more subtly earlier on). Otherwise, I really enjoyed it.

[Aeneas Barton]

This is brilliant! I enjoyed how you mixed elements of storytelling, with the presentation of an essay. This is not always an easy thing to do while maintaining a reader's interest. I also enjoyed how you went full cycle, not just with the closing deriving from the beginning, but also with the gravedigger, who will one day be dug up.

[Marie]

Very good mood piece...ifa somewhat gloomy look into skulls and graves. Once a body is pared to a skull, its meaning is lost forever...

[Sylvana]

I enjoy the message you give here and the detail you had put into it. One thing I want to mention is that there is in fact a difference between a male human's skull and a female human's skull. Although, saying that the skull is gender-less gives more meaning to the story, so I wouldn't worry about it.
This story, while not really not having a plot, does give out a good message. Once you become nothing but bones, why would you matter? You're not a person anymore, you don't look much different at all compared to other bones. You have no heart, no mind, nothing. And the gravedigger, when he dies, will become nothing either.
Good write. (: