on a lighter note...

From the movie Wit:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GS-m0UAB3uQ&feature=related

Death be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so,
For, those whom thou think’st, thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poor death, nor yet canst thou kill me;
From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,
Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery.
Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,
And poppy, or charms can make us sleep as well,
And better then thy stroke; why swell’st thou then?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally,
And death shall be no more, death thou shalt die.

This interests me because it paints death -the biggest change a human being can experience - to be just a pause, nothing to be afraid of. Does that mean all the smaller changes we experience (as we approach the peaceful comma that awaits us all) could also be truthfully met with the same grace, calm and serenity? Really? my aging skin? another house move? Oliver starting kindergarten? watching my parents move into their senior years? Arrested Development being cancelled? I'm not that enlightened yet - but I do find this poem encouraging.

"Life, death, soul, God, past, present. Not insuperable barriers. Not semicolons. Just a comma."