Lovecraft's Grave

I find it ironic that a man who was so enamored by the allure of the grave, of the crypt, of the bat-invested vault and ruin, revealed or thought little of what was to become of his earthly remains once his soul drifted off into constant sleep. I do not believe it was necessary to care. When he finally died of malnourishment and cancerous complications his remains, so I believe, were interred in the family grave of the Lovecrafts, in Swan Point Cemetery, in the north of his hometown of Providence. Afterwards there was no large distinction as to where he rested, for only a few selected followers persisted to honor his work and his work was much obscure to society. Arkham House was established, decades passed. Although I know little of what happened, apparently a group of adamant followers who had a hand in the revival of his literature across the decadent boredom-glazed subcultures of America got together and collected enough money to afford his name a separate gravemarker.

I had the luxury of being able to visit this cemetery while in the area of Providence. After seeing photographs of the marker through the internet, as well as securing directions to its location within the graveyard, I had a picture of a rather small grave with the simple lines inscribed on it, in a whitish marble-like stone, described as being behind the central family grave. I turned off my cell-phone and began walking among the graves, the ones in the front being of a more recent internment. This latest batch comprises a diverse lot, of Smiths and Cohens and Gonzalezes, yet I noticed as I traveled deeper that the stones too were becoming much more advanced in age. I saw a few graves dating from the early 1900's, such as 1901 and 1921, which took place during Lovecraft's time. I took the prescribed route towards the left of the cemetery, passing the large Barnaby Monument which can be seen and reached upon entering the estate, taking a left from there and continuing forward until the mentioned T in the lane became visible. There I saw a large column inscribed with the name "PHILLIPS" and my heart began palpitating (although it did not mark the name of the author). A brief inspection of he area allowed a glimpse of a series of trapezoidal-prismic stones behind this column, where I saw the name "LOVECRAFT". They were his immediate genus. I stepped around the left of the column and saw a singularly marked stone, much like the others but adorned with much later features by lede outside the graveyard staff. As in the photograph, there were small stones and coins placed atop the thin upper edge, and at its foot lay several cards or slips of paper advertising various places. I did not inspect them in great detail. One of them seemed to be a parking ticket.

I was astonished that at first I could not see Lovecraft's name, because even in the sunlight the light was uniform across the stone's face. It was much smaller than I had imagined, carved of such an unworthy stone that its name was hard to read. Squatting at an angle around it I finally read the anticipated lines:

HOWARD PHILLIPS

LOVECRAFT

AUGUST 20 1890

MARCH 15 1937

__________

'I AM PROVIDENCE'

I am glad that one of his favored phrases was inscribed on his gravemarker. This I feel is a great honor to him. The rest was very unimpressive, the stone being tiny in comparison to the majority of the markers, and I did not yet know whether to clean up all of the apparent trash laying around it.

I did not have much time to be there. I knelt before it in the small space between the stone and the large column, effectively hidden from any bypassers, and looked one last time before closing my eyes and breathing the air. I stayed here calmly for some minutes in silence and honor to him. It was incredible that I was kneeling, praying in some sort of weird pagan form, before the memorial of HPL's life. At the moment it did not feel incredible however. Everything was calm. Then I rose and left, having achieved my purpose. The anniversary of Lovecraft's birth is in less than a month. I published a memorial to him two years ago in this weblog.