another poem by walt whitman caught my attention last night. and the message was pretty clear. parts of me need to die in order to fully live. parts of me have died, but parts of me still need to pass on – without lament.
o living always – always dying
o living always—always dying!
o the burials of me, past and present!
o me, while i stride ahead,
material, visible, imperious as ever!
o me, what i was for years, now dead,
(i lament not – i am content;)
o to disengage myself
from those corpses of me,
which i turn and look at,
where i cast them!
to pass on, (o living! always living!)
and leave the corpses behind!
© walt whitman
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
i like.
Yes. We must die that we may live. Death is a multi-layered blessing fraught with struggle though, isn't it?
The parts of me I most want six feet under keep haunting me. The parts of me I most want to freely breathe remain lifeless.
Whitman had the gift of disengagement. He marched forward with nary a backward glance. I am not that way. Even though my former selves were given proper burials, somehow I think I must memorialize them, revisit them, honor them.
Perhaps Whitman is right. Be imperious. Disengage. Live.
Post a Comment