Death and Beowulf

February 23rd, 2004 at 2:45 pm by sillyjoe (Life and Introspection)

The flower of thy might
lasts now a while: but erelong it shall be
that sickness or sword thy strength shall minish,
or fang of fire, or flooding billow,
or bite of blade, or brandished spear,
or odious age; or the eyes’ clear beam
wax dull and darken: Death even thee
in haste shall o’erwhelm, thou hero of war! — King Hrothgar in Beowulf

I was reading these lines today for my English class, and the thought struck me. I’d heard the saying my entire life…”Two things are for sure, death and taxes.” Death is something I see several times a year, as my dad preaches funerals, and as relatives pass on. And I’m not stupid, I’ve always known I would die someday. But that realization…that it doesn’t matter how strong you are, or how healthy, or anything…you will die. For “man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgement.” However many years from now, everything that I put so much stock in now, will all be ashes. It will all be smoke. Smoke and “spitting into the wind.”

I think until you take a long hard look at death…you can’t fully live.

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