The grave shouldn't be such a dark and frightening place. If you believe that death is the eternal annihilation of your personal being, then what does it matter if your body is dumped into a hole? And if you believe in an eternal soul, most likely it's not hanging around your grave. But the grave is not a logical place – it's bones, rotting flesh and the insatiable worm; ghosts, shadows, sweet dreams and nightmares, the coldest and darkest silence. And it's loss. Loss of self, loss of loved ones. So whether you are sleeping for eternity or just biding your time until the resurrection, it's comforting to know that loving and protecting angels watch over you. Austin has a wealth of guardian angels – some powerful and vigilant, some kneeling in sorrowful empathy for a life too early ended, some mere children frolicking in blissful ignorance of the very idea of mortality. Human sorrow and human hope carved in stone, weather beaten and stained, with downcast eyes and broken wings, they post their silent vigil across eternity.

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