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!”