Drinking Graveyard Water

The Brontës did. We all do.
It’s not really why they died.
(Hint: why do graveyards exist?)

And yet, in a way it’s why
We all die the way we die.
(Why do humans make graveyards?)

Each syllable in this line,
Each shape, even translated
To other tongues, scripts, or codes,

Trickles through graveyard water,
All the other, long-lost signs
You thought were buried under

Brought back up by raw weather.
(Why do graves’ inscriptions blur?)