A Mansion In The Graveyard

This book A Mansion In The Graveyard is a collection of poems I wrote about a man who built a one room house on his mother′s grave to show people that his mother had a rich son. The second reason is that I attended a memorial service of one village old woman over 90 years of age. Her family slaughtered a bull, some goats and chickens for her funeral. It was a very big funeral and an expensive one as well. It costs over R150 000.00. This is common is South Africa where funerals in wealthy families are very expensive. The deceased might be poor but the siblings and relatives buy insurance policies and show the mourners that they are well off. It was my first time attending a memorial service. What I learned is what people say after a person is dead. Things they will not mention to that person while still alive. They were nice things that they could have told her perhaps on her birthday but these compliments were kept for years to be mentioned at her memorial service and more were mentioned at her funeral. She was now appreciated and all the good things she did were shared with the mourners. There was a video clip playing showing photos and videos of her life. Only the good things she did. Various speakers were asked to speak the good things about the deceased. This includes relatives, the Pastor, friends, the neighbor, and a poet wrote a poem about the deceased. This is to celebrate a legacy the deceased left behind. Memorial services I was told are done for the educated, the achievers in life and rich people. This is held to discuss their achievements. There is a video recording of the memorial service and the funeral. Some families hire a poet to write and recite a poem. Some of the poems are: A Mansion In The Graveyard, I Had To Show Them, Mama Still Farming In Her Old Age, Mama Is No More, etc.