You've heard about the dearly departed that sometimes haunt the living but what about the living that sometimes haunt the dead? Moving from tombstone to tombstone I try to see - and sometimes feel all those lives laid waste before me. Heartbreak is an infant that lived for but a day and Ms. Etta Partee Grisby who tragically died on her wedding day. And the cantankerous Mr. Bolton who refused life saving treatment so as to brand his killer a murderer. And what of Ms Annie Cook or Fannie as her admirers/customers loving called her. To this day she's immortalized in crumbling stone with hands clasps beseeching entry into heaven. And so goes in the life of the dearly departed at Elmwood Cemetery. Gone but not forgotten long as we remember how to live. What's left behind has turned to ash and dust. The soul - that corporal entity remains free - it's not housed there in the cold hard ground. It's not here hanging in the atmosphere. It's a bit morbid but it's true. Yes, I like cemeteries. To fear it is to fear death. Live everyday because before too long you too will be six feet underground! So one of these days when you've nothing else better to do...go on visit a cemetery. The ends justify the means. Live, love, laugh. The only thing that separates us from death is our daily breath(s). It's my hope that you realize this: "Don't be afraid your life will end; be afraid that it will never begin."

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Pictured here is a view of the Knights of Pythias tombstones at Elmwood Cemetery, Memphis, TN. To a photographer a sunrise without clouds is a bit of a challenge. But I can't and won't complain because it feels sooo good to be alive! Thanks for stopping by. Make it a great day!

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Post production credit goes to PhrankPower. For more views of Elmwood at sunrise please visit his gallery here.