Thursday, October 8, 2009

Using My Last Match

I have no idea what this was all about. I was under some pressure because my lay off had been going on for a while. But I have succeeded in placing myself in the position to handle lengthy time off. Since I had the heart event I have noticed my own mortality statements in a different way and wonder if I was noticing my approaching issue at some level, sensing what was to come in May.

If I am really at that place where I die, then hurry up and do it quickly.

I know my body instinctively struggles to stay alive. I have lived through enough stuff to know I don't have to pump up any false positive to convince myself to stay alive. However, I also know that staying alive is hardly the most important value in my box of values. I need to know I am of some use. I don't even want one day where I return to being a parasite. I have been there, done that. I need to know that some level of comfort is if not currently in my life, at least in my future. Quality of life rates high with me. I have seen too much. I know there really is a line there and that I have no right to judge another's decision about that, nor they me. Staying alive at any cost is for me simply insane and inhumane. The Hippocratic Oath cannot be applied in violation of humane values. The rub of course is figuring out the timing.

Using My Last Match

Hit me with a club,
why don't you, with a hammer.
Don't leave me standing,
not in this bad light.
Don't leave me to die alone
in the empty dark.
Take me down down down
throw me in the river Styx,
feed me to the fish.

I've used my last match.

February 16, 2009 9:58 AM

10 comments:

  1. here is my stone: (o).
    this was moving and touching.

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  2. Me, too, Christopher.

    When I was young, I used to say I wanted to live to be one-hundred. Now, I've learned that the term "living" is relative. The quality is everything.

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  3. You know, it felt like a surrender moment to me.....xxx

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  4. powerful and understated
    my favorite combination for a poem!

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  5. Harlequin, thank you for your stone.

    Karen, my Mom said that too, but she couldn't go past 79, almost 80. She died of a stroke just before she ran out of money.

    Michelle, you are probably right :)
    xxx

    Jonnia, nice of you to say so. Thank you.

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  6. Awwww dearheart. Hammers? Clubs? Let us just take the pills of sleep along with a bottle of strong red wine...hand in hand we will whisper to each other, laughing from this life to the next. I've got the pills....

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  7. I hope you have a power of attorney for durable health care in place.

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  8. i've always said you are matchless....

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  9. Ummm, W&W, it's just a poem. I know you are joking. So am I, at least today I am...

    Techno, I am on Kaiser and only as long as I am working...uh oh.

    That's a sulfurous pun, Ghost.

    But Michelle, I am not going to snort ectoplasm. That's not really very workable. Have you ever tried that???

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The chicken crossed the road. That's poultry in motion.


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