Oscar Wilde's Tomb

After Oscar Wilde was released from Reading Gaol (he had been imprisoned for "gross indecency"), he went abroad to Paris, where he died. Unlike the English, the French  recognised his genius, and buried him in the cemetery Pierre Lachaise (in the north east of Paris), an honour they reserve only for those they most admire (Edith Piaf and Corot are just two of the other denizens of this huge necropolis.)

My daughter and I saw his tomb when we visited Paris (my favourite city) a few years ago.

You can see all the lipstick kisses on the sides of the tomb, made by the thousands of visitors who go there every year.

So with curious eyes and sick surmise
We watched him day by day,
And wondered if each one of us
Would end the self-same way, 
For none can tell to what red Hell
His sightless soul may stray.

(Excerpt from The Ballad of Reading Gaol)