Joint Tenancy

Leaving the burial ground
and I notice all around
granite bearing sentiment
in rows like city tenements
boldly graven family names
and then, nearly all the same
mostly on the right side
beloved-father-husband-died
on the left, and empty space
pale as his tear-flecked face
when she wailed over it
and surely, some were poets
players upon strings as I
and surely, someone wondered why
they left before they thought they should
this onslaught of widowhood