Tag: #mortality

mortal again

in how many people’s memories do i still live?

what degree of blur, how precise an image?

there is nothing mere about mortality

there will be humdrum finalities like the last cup of tea

the last step in the sea. the last shag

the last time taking out taking out the bin bags

so i say memento mori at least every day

and when things get hard, i’ll try to be there

i genuinely do try and say memento mori every day. there are so many sad things about life. but life, as far we know, is the whole show. so you’ve got to try and make the most of it really. try not to spend all day reading the news. remain in denial about creeping authoritarianism and the collapse of the world order. who knows, maybe things will get better eventually.

i think i’m going to start watching star trek from the beginning. i think i’m ready.

never socrates unsatisfied nor pig in shit: / we are socrates in pig shit, always and 4 real.

would you rather be socrates unsatisfied or a pig in shit? the life unexamined is not worth living… but the pig is actually happy isn’t it? at least, it is in this philosophical paradox.

but ultimately, even if you choose the socratic life, ultimately you will still need to clean your toilet and take the bins out.

i remember distinctly an evening of childhood. my mum had made pork. i was chewing the pig in my mouth. overcooked. dry. tough. i left the dining table and went to the kitchen and spat the mouth-full into the bin. i thought about mortality: this was a dead pig i had desecrated. what a waste. i too would die. and i was scared of that. but if this pig could do it, maybe it wasn’t such a big thing.

a few years later i became a vegetarian, and i have mostly been vegetarian for most of my adult life.