Of Keats and cats

This weekend we had a trip to one of our favourite places in Rome, the 'cimitero acattolica' otherwise known as the Protestant graveyard, home to the grave of Keats and Shelley amongst others. It was a gorgeous sunny afternoon and we had a little sit on the grass and played with (Rowena) / tried to avoid (me) the very friendly cats.


Keat's grave is a very modest affair, sporting a slightly downbeat epitaph:

This grave contains all that was mortal, of a YOUNG ENGLISH POET,
Who on his Death Bed, in the Bitterness of his Heart,
at the Malicious Power of his Enemies,
Desired these Words to be engraven on his Tomb Stone:

"Here lies One Whose Name was writ in Water"

The cemetery also has a huge pyramid adjoining it, the late 1st century BC tomb of Gaius Cestius. A bit eccentric for a non-Egyptian but a striking way to be remembered.