The heart asks pleasure first,
And then excuse from pain,
And then those little anodynes
That deaden suffering ...
And then to go to sleep,
And then, if it should be
The Will of its Inquisitor,
The liberty to die.
~ Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)
...and who is our Modern Unbeliever's "Inquisitor" today....
ReplyDeleteMr. Obama's "Death Panel"?
:P
Grief is the worst of human afflictions.
ReplyDelete"Grief is the price we pay for love."
Delete~ Queen Elizabeth, II
I never thought of her majesty as notably wise or philosophical, but I was wrong. That sums it up nicely.
Your friend Emily said this. I think it fits your mood, dear friend. I could tell you've been distressed of late. I don't know what has gone wrong for you, but whatever it is I'm very sorry.
ReplyDeleteMy life closed twice before its close
It yet remains to see
If Immorality unveil a Third Event to me.
So huge, so hopeless to conceive
As these which twice befell.
Parting is all we know of Heaven,
And all we need of Hell.
Helen Highwater
Thank you, dear Helen. We've had a death in he family -- someone still young and very near and dear to me, who suddenly developed cancer and died within a very few days. You are very perceptive.
ReplyDelete