A Good Death...

October 11, 2014

“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 than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then?

One short sleep past, we wake eternally

And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.”

~ John Donne

I used to believe the strength of a man’s character resided in his life.  That every decision, every action or inaction, was indicative of who a person truly was.  And this credo seems a solid and reassuring one; all of our questions are answered.  We have these wonderful scepters to wave judging one man from another, deciphering the good and the bad. 

And yet this belief is folly.  The world is full of charming charlatans, conniving marauders.  They are men who sin in the dark and yet know every proverb by heart.  They whisper and scheme in the shadows and revel in lies in the light. We are quite often fooled.

The only truth to a man’s character arises when he’s faced with his own mortality.  Man can only hope for a good death, a chance to die well.  To reflect upon his life in that moment and collide into fate with dignity.

To hear the resounding trumpets, to look to the sky and know that he has been mastered.

That he has lived in love and he has died in love. 

~ Angela Darling

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