The Dash Poem by Jon M. Nelson

When you look upon a tombstone,
Two numbers seem to stand alone.
The year upon this earth they arrived,
And the second was when they died.

What's more important is rarely seen,
The life story on the dash in between.
Numbers hold the story like two bookends,
When it began and when it came to an end.

The dash is what will tell the story,
Of the resting person's life history.
But it isn't displayed like an open book,
That's why we have to take a closer look.