So Passed the Queen of the Black Coast

3 December 2015: "A professor at Texas A&M University posted these photos to Facebook. 'There has been a dead cockroach in the Anthropology building's stairwell for at least two weeks. Some enterprising person has now made her a little shrine.'" Images and Text Sources: Facebook via imgur.

In November, a cockroach died in the Anthropology stairwell at Texas A&M University. Then Facebook took over after the Anthropology Department went all Princess Diana-Burning Man to bid the cockroach goodbye in December.

4 December 2015.

4 December 2015: "Later that day."

4 December 2015: "More tributes that afternoon. Some flowers and notes, coins, and a Band-Aid."

5 December 2015: "'There is a candle now and a little coffin for the carcass... And for the record, I had nothing to do with the genesis of this memorial.' The tributes continue to flow. A lollipop, bottlecaps and a cigarette."

5 December 2015: "Somebody built a funeral pyre."

8 December 2015: "The Post-It on the wall reads, 'You were always there to say hello to me in the morning, Rosie! We will miss you.' The sign above: 'Rosie the Roach will be with us until Tuesday, December 14th when a celebration of her life will be conducted. Food and drinks will be served in the main office during the afternoon.'"

16 December 2015: "Rosie's popularity grew, and she was allowed to lay in state for a while longer than originally anticipated. More words: 'Here lies Rosie, a free roach.' A generous soul left a joint on the funeral pyre. Someone built a tiny cairn. Can't identify the currencies of the paper monies left."

16 December 2015: "More testimonials and poetry."

17 December 2015: "They cremated the roach this afternoon... Vale, Rosie."

I thought of the funeral pyre scene in Conan the Barbarian (1982). A Youtube commenter for the video below quoted Robert E. Howard's Conan story from 1934, Queen of the Black Coast (read it here):

"No hand was at the sweep of the Tigress, no oars drove her through the green water. But a clean tanging wind bellied her silken sail, and as a wild swan cleaves the sky to her nest, she sped seaward, flames mounting higher and higher from her deck to lick at the mast and envelop the figure that lay lapped in scarlet on the shining pyre. So passed the Queen of the Black Coast, and leaning on his red-stained sword, Conan stood silently until the red glow had faded far out in the blue hazes and dawn splashed its rose and gold over the ocean."

Scene from Conan the Barbarian (1982) © Universal/20th Century Fox. Reproduced under Fair Use. Video Source: Youtube.