Fleeting Little Life!

Each time a person dies, I’m reminded how quickly life ends, how easy it is to die – so fast, and how weak man is. I’m reminded it is a vain business to brag or boil over dust – the frail casing of mortality we live in. A snap, or so it seems; just like a snap of the fingers and emptiness ensues. Ashes emerge where once the fire burned. An empty chair is seen where once a figure sat clenching his little life with a gusto that has now sputtered away.

Men are but little dancing shadows on the fleeting corridors of the sun. The sun sets too soon!

Just within the space of a little over 24 hours, I have received 2 tales of mortal submission to the inevitable. The first, a medical student of a sister University, a friend to one of my students; the second, Mulan, a neighbour’s son, who plays, often, with my kids!

If only man would learn! Eternity beckons on everyone. The inevitable lurks at the corner. When the time comes, man cowers, numbed and emasculated, the boastful man forgets his strength; the privileged man surrenders his possessions; the powerful man leaves in silence; the great man is weakened, and the one who has explanations for every inglorious act is hushed by the weight of the mystery – his philosophies, muted.

Death is strong. Strong as the tomb. Or the tomb is strong. Strong as death. Both are unyielding. Both devour. Both reverberate with the unsavoury song of mortality. Their message is one: ‘Prepare for forever’. I wish everyone knew how.

*To the memory of little Mulan, who slipped into eternity on August 1, 2019.