Inside this nautically themed memorial at Lake View Cemetery is a poem penned by one of those it seeks to commemorate:
What if this life should prove to be a dream,-
A slumber journey to a fancied sphere:
Would the return to consciousness redeem
The loss, eternal, of the dreamland here?
What if the scenes and friendships that seem real,
Were but vision of a reverie:
Would the awakening again reveal
The picture of the dreamland mystery?
Or would the thoughts reflected in review
Of the dream incidents recalled again,
Forever pass away as most dreams do,
And naught of dreamlands memories remain?
What if a choice were offered from above,
To live on earth or dwell with The Supreme,-
Forgetting all the ties, endearments, love,-
In this strange life, if it should prove a dream!
What if the future life, too, were denied
Returning glimpses of the dreamland shore.-
What could the God of all above provide
In lieu of the lost dream—to dream no more.
Albert Anthony Augustus
Cleveland, Sept. 10th, 1925
A Grave Concern 