A Little Book of Eternal Wisdom [42]
of an unprepared
dying man cry aloud and speak as follows: The sorrows of death have
surrounded me.[11] Woe is me, Thou God of Heaven, that ever I was born into
the world. The beginning of my life was with crying and weeping, and now my
departure from it is also with bitter crying and weeping. Alas, the sorrows
of death have surrounded me, the pains of hell have encompassed me! O death,
O furious death, what an unwelcome guest thou art to my young and joyous
heart! How little was I prepared for thy coming! Thou hast attacked me from
behind, thou hast run me down. Thou leadest me away in thy chains like one
that leads a condemned man bound and fettered to the place where he is to be
slain. I clasp my hands above my head, I wring them with anguish in each
other, for gladly would I escape from him. I look around me into all the
ends of the earth to see if any one will give me advice or help, and it
cannot be. Death I hear thus fatally speaking within me: Neither learning,
nor money, nor friends can avail thee; thou art mine by right. Alas, and
must it be so? O God, and must I then depart from hence? Is a last
separation really at hand? Woe is me that ever I was born! O death, what art
thou going to do with me?
The Servant.--Dear man, why dost thou take it so hard? This is the
common lot of rich and poor, young and old. Many more have died in their
youth than in their old age. Or wouldst thou, perhaps, alone escape death?
This would prove a great want of understanding in thee.
The unprepared dying man.--O Lord, what bitter consolation is this! I
am not without understanding. Those are without understanding who have not
lived for Him, and who are not frightened at death. Such persons are blind;
they die like cattle; they know not what they have before them. I do not
complain that I must die; I complain that I must die unprepared. I do not
merely lament the end of my life, I lament and weep over the delightful days
which are so utterly lost and vanished without any profit. For truly I am
like an untimely and rejected abortion, like a blossom torn off in May. My
days have sped swifter than an arrow from the bow. I am forgotten as though
I had never been, like a track which a bird makes through the air, which
closes behind it and is unknown to all men. Therefore are my words so full
of bitterness, therefore is my speech so full of woe! Oh, who will enable me
to be as I once was, to have again those pleasant times before me, and to
know then what I know now! When those times were mine I did not rightly
estimate them; I, foolish man, let them pass swiftly away; now are they
vanished from me; I cannot recall them, I cannot overtake them. No hour so
short but I ought to have valued it more preciously and thankfully than a
poor man about to receive a kingdom as a gift. Lo, this is why my eyes shed
salt tears, because they cannot restore what I have lost. Woe is me, O God;
that I should have feasted so many day away, and that it profits me now so
little. Why did not I learn to die all the time? O ye blooming roses, that
have still your days before you, look at me and learn wisdom; turn your
youth to God, and with Him alone occupy your time, so that what has happened
to me may not happen to you. Ah, me! how have I consumed my youth! No one
would I believe; my wayward spirit would listen to no one. Alas, now am I
fallen into the snare of bitter death! My days have vanished, my youth has
sped. Better were it for me had my mother's womb become my grave than that I
should so have squandered away my time.
The Servant.--Be converted to God; repent of thy sins; if thy end be
well, then will all be well.
Unprepared dying man.--Alas, what do I hear? How shall I do penance?
Seest thou not how terrified I am, how exceeding great is my distress? Even
as a little bird caught in the claws of a cruel falcon, and become senseless
in the agony of dying, I am unconscious of everything except that I would
gladly escape and cannot. Death and the bitterness of separation oppress me.
dying man cry aloud and speak as follows: The sorrows of death have
surrounded me.[11] Woe is me, Thou God of Heaven, that ever I was born into
the world. The beginning of my life was with crying and weeping, and now my
departure from it is also with bitter crying and weeping. Alas, the sorrows
of death have surrounded me, the pains of hell have encompassed me! O death,
O furious death, what an unwelcome guest thou art to my young and joyous
heart! How little was I prepared for thy coming! Thou hast attacked me from
behind, thou hast run me down. Thou leadest me away in thy chains like one
that leads a condemned man bound and fettered to the place where he is to be
slain. I clasp my hands above my head, I wring them with anguish in each
other, for gladly would I escape from him. I look around me into all the
ends of the earth to see if any one will give me advice or help, and it
cannot be. Death I hear thus fatally speaking within me: Neither learning,
nor money, nor friends can avail thee; thou art mine by right. Alas, and
must it be so? O God, and must I then depart from hence? Is a last
separation really at hand? Woe is me that ever I was born! O death, what art
thou going to do with me?
The Servant.--Dear man, why dost thou take it so hard? This is the
common lot of rich and poor, young and old. Many more have died in their
youth than in their old age. Or wouldst thou, perhaps, alone escape death?
This would prove a great want of understanding in thee.
The unprepared dying man.--O Lord, what bitter consolation is this! I
am not without understanding. Those are without understanding who have not
lived for Him, and who are not frightened at death. Such persons are blind;
they die like cattle; they know not what they have before them. I do not
complain that I must die; I complain that I must die unprepared. I do not
merely lament the end of my life, I lament and weep over the delightful days
which are so utterly lost and vanished without any profit. For truly I am
like an untimely and rejected abortion, like a blossom torn off in May. My
days have sped swifter than an arrow from the bow. I am forgotten as though
I had never been, like a track which a bird makes through the air, which
closes behind it and is unknown to all men. Therefore are my words so full
of bitterness, therefore is my speech so full of woe! Oh, who will enable me
to be as I once was, to have again those pleasant times before me, and to
know then what I know now! When those times were mine I did not rightly
estimate them; I, foolish man, let them pass swiftly away; now are they
vanished from me; I cannot recall them, I cannot overtake them. No hour so
short but I ought to have valued it more preciously and thankfully than a
poor man about to receive a kingdom as a gift. Lo, this is why my eyes shed
salt tears, because they cannot restore what I have lost. Woe is me, O God;
that I should have feasted so many day away, and that it profits me now so
little. Why did not I learn to die all the time? O ye blooming roses, that
have still your days before you, look at me and learn wisdom; turn your
youth to God, and with Him alone occupy your time, so that what has happened
to me may not happen to you. Ah, me! how have I consumed my youth! No one
would I believe; my wayward spirit would listen to no one. Alas, now am I
fallen into the snare of bitter death! My days have vanished, my youth has
sped. Better were it for me had my mother's womb become my grave than that I
should so have squandered away my time.
The Servant.--Be converted to God; repent of thy sins; if thy end be
well, then will all be well.
Unprepared dying man.--Alas, what do I hear? How shall I do penance?
Seest thou not how terrified I am, how exceeding great is my distress? Even
as a little bird caught in the claws of a cruel falcon, and become senseless
in the agony of dying, I am unconscious of everything except that I would
gladly escape and cannot. Death and the bitterness of separation oppress me.