Your life is an occasion. Rise to it.
When King Lear dies in Act V, do you know what
Shakespeare has written?
He's written
"He dies."
That's all,
nothing more.
No fanfare, no metaphor, no brilliant
last words.
The culmination of the most
influential work of dramatic literature is
"He dies."
It takes Shakespeare, a genius, to come up with
"He dies."
And yet, every time I read those two words, I find myself
overwhelmed with dysphoria.
And I know it's only natural to be sad, but not because of the words
"He dies."
but because of the life we saw
prior to the words.
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If anyone asks what became of me,
you relate my life in all its
wonder, and end it with a simple and modest
"He died."
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Your life is an occasion.
Rise to it.