An epitaph is a short inscription or composition on a tombstone or memorial marker, commemorating the deceased by name, dates, and a brief reflective statement. The mechanism of persistence is material carving and ritual repetition: stone preserves the text across generations, while mourning practices ensure the words are read aloud at memorials and remembered in annual observances. An epitaph is not a biography — it is a distilled address to the dead, calibrated for legibility by future strangers and meaning for those who mourn.
[formal: | substrate: matter | horizon: a life | explicit: yes | epoch: 0.01]