Sijo

[brynmawr1]

Funny, you picked out the two words I wrangled with the most.  I like the connotation of 'apart' but was leaning toward something more anthropomorphic.  How about 'stand witness'?

I think you got something there ("witness" I mean).  Give you an added suject rhyme in the last line too.

Will be curious how you land on the vs their.

Thanks for your continued interest.  I like 'witness' but later it occurred to me that it might give away the twist too early.  Part of what makes it work(for me) is the ambiguity between people vs the headstones until the last line.  At least that is my objective.   thoughts?  Maybe 'apart' is the better choice.

In the end I found 'the' too generic to let the reader know this is a gravesite of loved ones.