Your tombstone stands among the rest,
Neglected and alone.
The name and date are chiseled out,
On polished, marbled stone.

It reaches out to all who care,
It is too late to mourn,
You did not know that I exist
You died and I was born.

Yet each of us are cells of you
In flesh, in blood, in bone,
Our  heart  Contracts and beats a pulse
Entirely not our own.

Dear Ancestor, the place you filled
one hundred years ago
Spreads out among the ones you left
Who would have loved you so.

I wonder if you lived and loved,
I wonder if you knew
That someday I would find this spot,
and come and visit you.

* *
Every person who shall knowingly and willfully dig up, except as otherwise provided by law, obliterate, or in any way desecrate any *cemetery* where human dead are interred, or cause through word, deed or action the same to happen, shall upon conviction be imprisoned for not more than one (1) year in the county jail or fined not more than five hundred dollars ($500.00), or both, in the discretion of the court. In addition to any penalties that the court is otherwise authorized to impose the court may, in its discretion, order such restitution as it deems appropriate.

In construing this section, a* cemetery* shall mean any plot of ground (1) on which are grave markers of stone, wood, metal or any other material recognizable as marking graves, or (2) the boundaries of which are defined by a recorded plat, a fence line or corner markers, or trees, or are defined in any other discernible manner.
 

*Sources: *Codes, 1942, § 2076.5; Laws,  1971, ch. 398, § 1; Laws, 1972, ch. 351, § 1; Laws, 1983, ch. 406, eff from and after July 1, 1983.
-- 
Scott McCoy
Mississippi Department of Archives and History
Post Office Box 571
Jackson, Mississippi 39201
Phone: 601-576-6986
Fax:   601-576-6955
 

New "Drew Cemetery" page under construction but it is open during this time.