Learning to die
Thursday, July 29th, 2004(for Graham Nuthall)
Your last class, dear teacher,
was “How to Die.”
You learned by doing.
We learned by observation and inclusion.
Some die by accident.
Some die on purpose, in bed.
* * *
1. Be strong,
be fit.
2. Take your
medicine.
3. Love every love, every leaf in your life
even more than before.
4. Finish your life work.
(Leave some for others to do.)
5. Say welcome and goodbye
day by day, with your eyes.
6. Courtesy: be gracious
to the lady bringing tea.
7. Wait for your children
to arrive.
8. Stop the medication when you’re ready,
and your dear ones all agree.
9. Insist on one last picnic
by the river, with beer.
10. Move on when you’re tired,
and it’s time.
* * *
But that’s your list, not ours.
What you did was what you were.
Wisdom is wisdom
when it seems wise to the speaker.
* * *
“Be yourself, and in extremis
be yourself extremely.
Learning is the playful
purpose and practice of life.
Study your living
and honour your living
for this is the way you will be remembered,
and this is the way you will die.”