Editor’s note: As a bestselling author and frequent Meridian contributor, most of us are familiar with Richard Eyre’s prose, but he is less well-known as a poet. We have asked him to share a poem each Monday morning for the remainder of this year as a form of weekly contemplation, along with a preface paragraph about its context and about what motivated him to write it. To read the four earlier poems in this series click here, here, here, and here.
Poet’s context: November has been a tough month with three devastating deaths. First a beloved friend and mentor of 45 years, then a lifelong buddy and tennis doubles partner, and then suddenly an 8-year-old niece whose heart condition was thought to be stable. And most piercing of all, my dear brother is terminally ill. It has forced me to do what my positive psychologist son has told me is one of the most insightful, important, and impacting things one can do—-to think and talk more about death. I could write about the pain but I choose to write about the plan. (And yes, a list can be a poem.)
20 Reasons to think (and talk) more about death
We don’t like thoughts
of death…
In general,
Of friends,
And particularly not of our
own death.
But
we should embrace what we banish.
Here’s twenty reasons why:
One: It is the single
universal experience.
Two: It can come to any of us
at any time.
Three: Its awareness
sharpens our awareness.
Four: It counters
the sin of taking for granted.
Five: It’s “last time” paradigm
enhances gratitude.
Six: It separates what is minutia
From what matters.
Seven: It deepens conversation
and relationships.
Eight: It reminds us that all this beauty
is fragile, finite, and fleeting.
Nine: It delineates the now-time here
from the non-time there.
Ten: It catalyzes love—
ever expanding, extending, elongating.
Eleven: It stimulates ponderings
of God and Heaven.
Twelve: It connects us to those who are
There and perhaps often here.
Thirteen: It opens up wider, longer,
deeper awareness and perspective.
Fourteen: It epitomizes
“celestial thought.”
Fifteen: It spurs a seeking
of foreordination and purpose.
Sixteen: It prompts genuine
re-evaluation and repentance.
Seventeen: It retains in our remembrance
God’s greatness and our nothingness.
Eighteen: It makes us consistently
more mindful of and grateful for Christ.
Nineteen: It reminds us whence we came
and whither we are going.
Twenty: It helps us see
our spiritual siblings.
All good things are made better
by anticipation,
And death, in God’s timing, is a good thing.
KathyNovember 27, 2023
As a widow of almost 2 years, ALL 20 reasons to think and talk more about death resonated resoundingly with me! Thank your son and thank you!