Life Has Been

As I read the opening lines of the Diane Seuss poem:

“I hope when it happens I have time to say oh so this is how it is happening”

The author’s precise words literally leap out of the page and fill my mind with awe.

I realize I have been thinking or pondering or fearing that time since early childhood.

A memory quickly returns of a stoic nun standing at the front of a classroom reading aloud

other words:

“Funeral marches to the grave.”

and the long ago moment floods back into my consciousness .

I relive the ominous quiet of our sixth grade class when the black robed teacher with the lovely name deliberately and distinctly clarified the quoted passage that sent fifty immature youngsters into the dark night of fear.

For years afterward I wondered why she selected that precise passage from “Psalm of Life” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow for her impressionable young students to commit to memory.

Of course, I obediently memorized the quoted line and was rewarded with an A on my report card .

Often in retrospect I wished I had gotten a C or incomplete and been spared the nightmares that endured for months afterwards.

Ms. Seuss’ words do not conjure fear rather an upcoming adventure. One that every human being whether regal, celebrity or humble peasant, must await.

It is our inevitable future

However if I have a choice, I pray that I will welcome life’s final experience with joyful anticipation.

Rather than view the final human experience with the dour view of the memorized poem, I hope to remember the joyful image presented by Ms. Seuss.

As she wrote:

“I kissed someone who kissed someone who kissed someone who kissed……….”

And forget forever, “Funeral marches to the grave.”

Life has been too much fun for that.