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One day you wake up
and the next you sleep and every day after that, you sleep.
Do you dream? Lucid half-waking dreams that trick you into falling asleep again, and again?
Just how lucid, am I?
What is the moment of death? Is it the cessation of organized electrical activity in the heart? Pulseless, functionless pump that's ceased its beating? The end of meaningful neuronal communication? Common sense tells me both, but I know it's just not that black-and-white.
It takes a long time, for example, for blood cells to suffocate.
Epithelium can continue on in a nutrient-rich environment for a while.
Hair cells, renal filters, hepatic cells all can continue minutes or more after their oxygen supply has ceased.
More philosophically: what is the precise moment when the soul, that elusive thing made of hope and faith and dreams, relinquishes its final grasp on this temporary housing? And, does this moment coincide with the recorded moment of death? Is it a slow process: a soul having had years to shuffle itself free finally releases its fingertip tendrils, taking with it any meaningful life, but not necessarily ending living? Is it a quick eviction: a whole soul, however weary, learns its time is up by figuring out the body around it has quit?
All I wanted for you, to not hurt, to feel loved, I believe you had these things. I believe you were safe and cared for and went as dignified as you could have.
You gave up, you gave it up, and maybe your soul left a long time ago, but you still carried a light that could be seen, and a life that deserved hope and love.
Sat, June 2, 2007 - 8:27 PM
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and the next you sleep and every day after that, you sleep.
Do you dream? Lucid half-waking dreams that trick you into falling asleep again, and again?
Just how lucid, am I?
What is the moment of death? Is it the cessation of organized electrical activity in the heart? Pulseless, functionless pump that's ceased its beating? The end of meaningful neuronal communication? Common sense tells me both, but I know it's just not that black-and-white.
It takes a long time, for example, for blood cells to suffocate.
Epithelium can continue on in a nutrient-rich environment for a while.
Hair cells, renal filters, hepatic cells all can continue minutes or more after their oxygen supply has ceased.
More philosophically: what is the precise moment when the soul, that elusive thing made of hope and faith and dreams, relinquishes its final grasp on this temporary housing? And, does this moment coincide with the recorded moment of death? Is it a slow process: a soul having had years to shuffle itself free finally releases its fingertip tendrils, taking with it any meaningful life, but not necessarily ending living? Is it a quick eviction: a whole soul, however weary, learns its time is up by figuring out the body around it has quit?
All I wanted for you, to not hurt, to feel loved, I believe you had these things. I believe you were safe and cared for and went as dignified as you could have.
You gave up, you gave it up, and maybe your soul left a long time ago, but you still carried a light that could be seen, and a life that deserved hope and love.
