"Hydriotaphia, Urn Burial" is a reflective, philosophical work exploring mortality, the inevitability of death, and the human struggle to understand the universe. The author delves into the customs and rituals of different cultures surrounding death and burial, using the discovery of ancient burial urns as a starting point. The text is a profound meditation on death, the fleeting nature of life, and the human desire for immortality. It also explores the mysteries of the universe, the limits of human knowledge, and the uncertainty of life after death.

Set in Baghdad before and after the U.S. invasion, this intimate first-person narrative follows a young man who takes up his family's trade of washing the dead and records the toll that war, sectarian violence, and personal loss take on his life; with spare, lyrical prose he investigates grief, memory, faith, and the quiet dignity of tending corpses while confronting exile, silence, and the moral costs of survival.