a beckoning skeleton

 Edmund Joseph Sullivan's 1913 illustration

Alike for those who for To-day prepare,
And those that after a To-morrow stare,
A Muezzín from the Tower of Darkness cries
"Fools! your Reward is neither Here nor There!"

—Omar Khayyam (arranged by Edward Fitzgerald) quatrain 24 of 75 in 1st edition – 1859 

 Omar Khayyám *1048, 1131† was a scholar in many fields. His thousand some Persian quatrains have been selectively translated by many over the last century and an half. Perhaps, there is a Persian scholar out there that could give them a proper Köchel number; and another to translate that opus.

Never anticipate tomorrow's sorrow:
Live always in this paradisal Now—
Fated however soon to house, instead,
With others gone these seven thousand years*:
— Robert Graves 1967 from a forged Persian version by a Sufi scholar as quatrain 21 to be equivalent of the above
*age of the world

 poster by Alton Kelly and Stanley Mouse (Stanley George Miller)

This drawing was a partial impetus for the Grateful Dead's garlanded skeleton, Bertha. Now, there is some literature that has earlier presentation of the skulls of Christian martyrs with roses for viewing and veneration. There are many macabre images of skeletons from the time of the black death (post 1347). The Danse Macabre (Dance of Death) was a theme where Death called subjects, both high and low, to dance; for all are united in death.

the golden flower of the grave yard

Chrysanthemum (golden flower) path in Barberton, O.

Sunday, i bumped into a friend from Barberton. I had not seen her for a few months. I mentioned, that i enjoyed the Mums Fest. She said, she did not allow herself to ever go. In the old country it was the graveyard flower for All Saints', and All Souls. They would remind her of that.

Yes, it is true. Much, if not all of Catholic Europe, considers it such. They are beautiful flowers, and in bloom there, when so few flowers are. The dead are remembered, and people visit and take care of grave sites. People, and society together in the Church agree about this for the beginning of November. [The Orthodox and Greek Catholics have All Saints the First Sunday after Pentecost.]

Mexico had been a part of Spain. The First of  November is All Saints', the Second is All Souls.  There those two days combined with indigenous folklore, and the resultant became Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). The typical flower there is the, somewhat similar, marigold. The colors of yellow, gold, and orange, and the shape of the bloom, and the smell are comparable. Traditionally, people have referred to marigolds of having the smell of death.