post mortem

Disclaimer: There is no need for alarm. There is no intention for this post to require actioning in the immediate or near future, it is simply a declaration of wishes in respect of an inevitable and unpredictable event which there is no harm in being prepared for.

When I am dead, I do not wish to be burned/cremated - I do not like the idea of such extreme heat. I do not wish to join the bone collections of the christian graveyard or the muslim kabristan - they do not seem cheerful places. I do not want to be chopped up in pieces and fed to the birds - I admire the efficiency, but I don't like knives. I don't like the idea of being permanently drowned either, so don't leave me underwater. It is not reasonable to expect permanent repose in an urban environment, where one's presence would be an inconvenience to the living, until the body was inevitably disposed of in a waste heap.

Instead, please dispose of my body, to the extent it is practical and possible, in accordance with this rubai by Omar Khayyam:

Ah, with the Grape my fading Life provide,
And wash my Body whence the Life has died,
And in a Windingsheet of Vine-leaf wrapt,
So bury me by some sweet Garden-side.

Ideally near a river, and where a cool breeze blows, where it doesn't get too hot in the summer and where the rain is pleasant and enjoyable.