wormsmeat

WORMS'-MEAT, n.  The finished product of which we are the raw
material.  The contents of the Taj Mahal, the Tombeau Napoleon and the
Granitarium.  Worms'-meat is usually outlasted by the structure that
houses it, but "this too must pass away."  Probably the silliest work
in which a human being can engage is construction of a tomb for
himself.  The solemn purpose cannot dignify, but only accentuates by
contrast the foreknown futility.

    Ambitious fool! so mad to be a show!
    How profitless the labor you bestow
        Upon a dwelling whose magnificence
    The tenant neither can admire nor know.

    Build deep, build high, build massive as you can,
    The wanton grass-roots will defeat the plan
        By shouldering asunder all the stones
    In what to you would be a moment's span.

    Time to the dead so all unreckoned flies
    That when your marble is all dust, arise,
        If wakened, stretch your limbs and yawn --
    You'll think you scarcely can have closed your eyes.

    What though of all man's works your tomb alone
    Should stand till Time himself be overthrown?
        Would it advantage you to dwell therein
    Forever as a stain upon a stone?
                                                             Joel Huck