Things appearing, things disappearing
When all is over --- everything having appeared and
having disappeared,
Being and extinction both transcended ---
Still the basic emptiness and silence abides
and that is blissful Peace.
From: The
Buddhist Bible;
Selections from
Sanskrit Sources, p. 84
۞۞۞۞۞
Bonnie has been in the hospital since last Friday for tests to find the source of anemia and to have another transfusion; her third since December 2nd. While Bonnie was there her mom, Lenore, passed away Saturday. Because Lenore’s brain was gradually being eaten away with Alzheimer’s, it wasn’t unexpected and there was a certain relief that went with the loss. The process is so gradual that it just seems to be the most natural procession. I like the term “passed away”, especially in these cases, because the word death is so damned final. I admire her father’s commitment to stay with her to the end instead of putting her out of sight in the final months.
I do freely admit, however, that thinking about the ultimate change evokes a mild discomfort. Because I never really expected to live past thirty, and certainly not past fifty, at sixty six, I would think that I would be ready already. I can’t help but to think of the unfinished novel… the painting… that piece of alabaster on the porch that I started carving years ago… the ones I never told “I love you” the last time I saw them… the dishes in the sink undone and so on. I owe so many roosters to so many people (as in the death of Socrates). Ah, I still have time to finish some of this business today.
geo 5,272
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