The Fate of His Ashes

The text for this piece is derived from the Epistle to the Reader of Sir Thomas Browne’s Hydriotaphia, (1658). Subtitled Urn Burial, the essay is a reflection on the discovery of a Roman urn burial site in Norfolk and the practice of disinterment. I compiled the text by redacting (i.e. eliminating) many of the words of the original, leaving behind a ghostly contemplation on the metaphysical uses of a body after death. Something hidden is revealed by elimination. Death eliminates too, and can reveal. The circumstances of a death can transform a life lived privately, outside the public eye, into something very public. After its final breath, a body can expose much about power, race and America. The act of extinguishing a life can extend and amplify that life; one’s potential and influence can blossom at death and outlive a body’s time spent on earth. The person has vanished and what remains are literally their remains, now a parable of larger forces in the world.Douglas J. Cuomo — New York City, 2016