Death

I spent some time in the graveyard right in front of my house recently, and I think it was an enlightening experience. The rain was pouring and the clouds covered the sky, but a combination of the rain and a light breeze made the trees and plants seem lively. The rain smelled like spring and the scene was oddly optimistic despite the setting. It was beautiful. There was a little bit of vegetation that surrounded the graveyard which I spent a little time observing, but the true beauty of the graveyard was the grave itself. I found out that it was “the final resting place for veterans of six wars”. I saw this and thought of the people that each of these individuals were, and how they must have behaved, and how they finally returned to the soil in which they came from. The spring surrounding was lively, but it seemed like the world stopped moving when you looked at the graves. Just the rain. That day, when I was driving I saw a squirrel dead on the road. A terrible scene, but this time, I didn’t look away. I saw that it had been pieced apart by ravens and flies were all over the carcass. It was a beautiful thing to me, nature was reclaiming what was taken away from her and that squirrel would live on through the flies and the ravens. It was a beautiful thing to think that one day I will be a part of something larger than myself. Cris told me to research a sky burial, and it was fascinating. Not saying that I want to be eaten by other animals, but I want to be turned to ash, and have it scattered. The idea of taking a coffin with me into the underground feels so restricting. It feels so isolated. I think a “final resting place” is too definite and final for this universe that is infinite. The world is fascinating and I want to continue to be a part of it in many different ways. I want to be part of a plant that is growing. I want to be a dust particle on top of someone’s shelf. I want to be part of the sand that rests at the bottom of the ocean. These are the thoughts that comfort me when I think about death. Nature will move on, and I will continue to be a part of it.