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"Unconcerned but not indifferent";
a phrase to capture the feeling of dying.
In the Mont Parnasse cemetery in Paris, etched
onto the grave of Man Ray, these words of his
beg me to erase twenty years worth of worrying.
Twenty years of wondering when my breath will grow ragged,
of wishing the world would spin slower
or the wheels of the clock would wind back.
But this was before I'd found Europe,
traveled the Atlantic; added hours to a day
without fearing losing them,
walked the streets of Paris alone with no end in mind,
no plan for a day's worth of walking
but for moving forward, going on; living.
I sit on a bench here today to eat my lunch.
The city breathes life into the cobblestoned paths
of this most beautiful resting place.
I’m told the greenery draws the living,
luring them in for just an hour or two
to walk among the tombs: a sneak peek
into the future.
I’m told also I shouldn’t fear death,
though I have always been afraid.
But how can I cling to that
--now that I have seen Paris?
Lived and breathed and lost six hours
and not been afraid of that,
the losing of them.
a phrase to capture the feeling of dying.
In the Mont Parnasse cemetery in Paris, etched
onto the grave of Man Ray, these words of his
beg me to erase twenty years worth of worrying.
Twenty years of wondering when my breath will grow ragged,
of wishing the world would spin slower
or the wheels of the clock would wind back.
But this was before I'd found Europe,
traveled the Atlantic; added hours to a day
without fearing losing them,
walked the streets of Paris alone with no end in mind,
no plan for a day's worth of walking
but for moving forward, going on; living.
I sit on a bench here today to eat my lunch.
The city breathes life into the cobblestoned paths
of this most beautiful resting place.
I’m told the greenery draws the living,
luring them in for just an hour or two
to walk among the tombs: a sneak peek
into the future.
I’m told also I shouldn’t fear death,
though I have always been afraid.
But how can I cling to that
--now that I have seen Paris?
Lived and breathed and lost six hours
and not been afraid of that,
the losing of them.