The Death Bed
The Death Bed
- by Lucy Hinton, 2012, inspired directly by a video recording of the words of John O'Donohue
There is no place like a death bed
Apart from a birth bed
And in a way, the death bed is a kind of birth bed
And what a tremendous place it is
If a person has really lived their life
In their own inimitable way
Be they cripple or jewel thief, grower or gambler
Lover, servant, poet or monk
And what a tragic place it can be
If that person never lived the life they carried inside them
Instead postponing it, beset by the expectations of others
And their own anxieties and indecisions
Always waiting for a future time to inhabit their own stride
And suddenly here is the eve of their death
And their sad, lonesome eyes
Are looking back on the life that they have squandered