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Versindaba
13 June 202413 June 2024

Tony Ullyatt. From: “Remnant Days”. Sonnet IV

 

IV

 

After the carelessness and risks of youth

– excesses indulged and even pursued

until some sense, illness, or death intrudes –

time becomes precious as we learn at last

to respect the lives of all living things

as we confront our own mortality.

Now I waft flies and bugs away instead

of slapping them dead but still can’t accept

the notion of idiot compassion.

I’d prefer to die of a life well-lived

not an insect bite.

 

 

*  The “idiot compassion” in Sonnet IV is the Buddist concept of not killing an insect like a mosquito, even if it’s malaria-carrying and could kill you. The same holds true for not killing any living things. Robert Thurman says because we have countless lives, he kills bugs and dangerous things, saying “Better luck in the next life!”

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