Dana Lyn Bartschi - Epitaph

When I was a Junior in high school, our English teacher gave us an assignment to write an epitaph poem about our life. This is what I wrote when I was 17-years-old.

Dana Lyn Bartschi

Born on a cold and wintry day

Dana Lyn Bartschi was the child’s name.

Asleep in the cradle there, she lay

Dreaming of heaven from whence she came.

Her parents stood watching, admiring with care

The baby girl that was lying there.

Her porcelain white skin and her jet black hair

Looked radiant in the midnight air.

The years went by and the child grew.

Her hair turned brown and her eyes bright blue.

Adventure and happiness was all she knew.

Life was a fairy tale for her that came true.

As the years passed on, she had reached her teens.

Ribbons and bows changed to t-shirts and jeans.

In high school she learned of things she’d never seen,

So she went off to college to find what they mean.

A young woman now and a mother of three

Already becoming what she wanted to be.

A mother, a wife, with a nursing degree,

Starting to raise her own family.

Tears streaked her face as she watched her young lad

Receive his diploma and give a hug to his dad.

Full of the memories and experiences she’d had.

Now the house would be empty, lonely, and sad.

Or so she thought, but the years flew by,

And soon she became the grandmother of five

Her home was filled with the laughter and cries

Of her family; the joy that brought tears to her eyes

She died on a cold and wintry day.

Dana Lyn Bartschi was the old woman’s name.

Peacefully sleeping there, she lay

Dreaming of heaven from whence she came.