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dying
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Leaden blankets weigh her down,
White hands drape her leathery face.
Caught in the numbness of narrowing time,
Eyes blinded by gauze.
Robotic sighs echo into her coma.
Metallic hiss of breathing machine is the
Strange violence of modern compassion.
What do we do when those e care deeply about are dying, while we go on living and working? We might be tempted to indulge in our own feelings of injustice, sadness, or fear, but we should think first of those who are dying. We have a responsibility to be with them.
Don't let others die lonely. No matter how ironic your living may compare with their dying, act for them as they can no longer act. If they reach out for some way to cope with their impending end, you need not have flowery words. Merely being with them, perhaps reaching out to hold hands, is eloquence enough. Death may be near, but any amount of time before it comes is precious.
Life's moments are not cheapened by death. Just to observe and affirm is good. After all, death waits from all of us. Only the value we place on each minute determines the quality of life. If we can embrace that, then no one's life is ruined by death.
dying
365 Tao
Deng Ming-Dao
Daily Meditations
Chinese Medical Therapy
li jin
Chinese ink and color on rice paper
26 x 26 inches
tao water gallery
www.taowatergallery.com
li jin was born in 1958 China, and graduated
from Tianjing Academy of Fine Arts in 1983 with B.A. degree of Chinese
Painting.
Now he is teaching and living in China.
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Thomas Murphy
April 6, 1967 - April 15, 2002
"When the heart weeps for
what it has lost;
The spirit smiles for what
it has gained. " - Sufi
~~~~
Jaime Kibben
December 29, 1947 - January 11, 2003
"This existence of ours
is a transient as autumn clouds.
To watch the birth and
death of beings is like
looking at the movements of a dance.
A lifetime is like a flash
of lightening in the sky.
Rushing by, like a torrent
down a steep mountain."
- Gautama Siddhartha