Jan. 18th, 2019

magistrate: The arc of the Earth in dark space. (Default)
I'd gone looking for the text of When Death Comes, to remind myself of a certain line, and thus just so happened to be googling her on the night of the day that she died. I once read this poem at the bedside of a dying friend who I loved very much. I hope Mary got exactly the sort of death she wanted.

When Death Comes – Mary Oliver

When death comes
like the hungry bear in autumn;
when death comes and takes all the bright coins from his purse

to buy me, and snaps the purse shut;
when death comes
like the measle-pox

when death comes
like an iceberg between the shoulder blades,

I want to step through the door full of curiosity, wondering:
what is it going to be like, that cottage of darkness?

And therefore I look upon everything
as a brotherhood and a sisterhood,
and I look upon time as no more than an idea,
and I consider eternity as another possibility,

and I think of each life as a flower, as common
as a field daisy, and as singular,

and each name a comfortable music in the mouth,
tending, as all music does, toward silence,

and each body a lion of courage, and something
precious to the earth.

When it's over, I want to say all my life
I was a bride married to amazement.
I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.

When it's over, I don't want to wonder
if I have made of my life something particular, and real.

I don't want to find myself sighing and frightened,
or full of argument.

I don't want to end up simply having visited this world.

Profile

magistrate: The arc of the Earth in dark space. (Default)
magistrate

March 2024

S M T W T F S
     12
3456789
10111213141516
171819 20212223
24252627282930
31      

Page Summary

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jul. 10th, 2025 05:36 pm
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios