Can there be death after life;
a snuffing-out,
extinguishment
stillness, stasis
no-more-ness,
repose, at rest,
all done and dusted
in pacem?
The last breath slams
our vision's shutters,
and mind's meanderings stop
sharp.
Micro-lives feed richly
and inextinguishable life
(soul, atman, if you like),
asserts its right to rule.
But what of me,
who built, broke bread,
laughed, cried, and imbued
the world (my world),
with purpose and with love?
But what of me,
who dared assume to hear
(in part at least),
the music of the heavens,
who watched the play of good and
ill,
emotion's mess,
seductive beauty,
the mind of God?
Was all of that just vanity,
reduced at last
to cannibalising drives
of my microbial selves?
Can I find a modicum of joy
in melding with the universe's
stuff?
Can I see plot and plan
in tooth-and-claw
transforming present me to future
me
in a where and when unknown?
Rouse yourselves, you arbiters of
meaning;
you architects of prose,
whose grandiloquent blocks,
dare house a god
who needs no walls.
Bestir yourselves
authorities in god-talk,
come down from your high place
and tell me, as my eastern
neighbours do,
that there will be a welcome end
to life;
a peace at last.
© Karel Reus
Something we don't seem to talk about in our church community is what we would regard as an appropriate funeral service for ourselves when our time comes. ( I have a friend who doesn't want one at at all). Increasingly common is the rubric 'A Celebration of the Life of .....). Some believers go along with this though it is very common nowadays among seculars. I wonder if for those who do not believe in any existence after death, this is a way of avoiding mourning i.e. they are more comfortable looking back rather than forward? Maybe the fact that the wearing of black at funerals has largely disappeared is another indication? How far should the eulogy (often more than one) dominate a Christian service?
ReplyDeleteYou are right, Bill. We need to talk more about this. I have long thought there is little hope for a church (local or wider) that does not address the basic existential issues of life and death. Also I have, in recent times, been struck by how tenacious life is, even after "death". Hence the poem. Personally, I am not persuaded by the heaven and hell thing. But I do respect the notion that we live on to a significant degree. These days I seem to attend a lot of funerals, and I am invariably disappointed (even outraged) by what goes on. Surely we can do better, but I suspect we won't until we come to grips with what it all means. I don't think the secular/sacred distinction helps a lot. We all feel pain and loss, regardless. As for me, quick and simple is the go - though I suspect I won't have much say in it. As for the eulogy, leave it out -as far as I'm concerned.
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