La Mort des pauvres

I am closing in on the last few days and I am certain that this will all be done in time. Yesterday life came full circle when the next generation were handed their diplomas and sent off into the world. The most important ones are still around though, as am I, sick though I am. Saline solution and sleepless nights. He will see me through. The time draws near and my very last opportunity for complete closure has flown the coop. I don't mind. I want all the new beginnings.

Praise Apollo I am sleepy, for the alternative is so much worse.

The Death of the Poor
It is Death that consoles, alas! And that makes us live;
It is the purpose of life, and it is the only hope
That, like an elixir, raises us and intoxicates us,
And gives us the heart to walk until evening;

Through the storm, and the snow, and the ice,
It is the vibrant light on our black horizon
It is the famous inn noted in the book,
Where one can eat, and sleep, and sit down;

It is an Angel who holds in his magnetic fingers
Sleep and the gift of ecstatic dreams,
And who remakes the bed of the poor and the naked people;

It is the glory of Gods, it is the mystical granary,
It is the purse of the poor and her old fatherland,
It is the portico open over the unknown Skies!

La Mort des pauvres
C'est la Mort qui console, hélas! et qui fait vivre;
C'est le but de la vie, et c'est le seul espoir
Qui, comme un élixir, nous monte et nous enivre,
Et nous donne le coeur de marcher jusqu'au soir;

À travers la tempête, et la neige, et le givre,
C'est la clarté vibrante à notre horizon noir
C'est l'auberge fameuse inscrite sur le livre,
Où l'on pourra manger, et dormir, et s'asseoir;

C'est un Ange qui tient dans ses doigts magnétiques
Le sommeil et le don des rêves extatiques,
Et qui refait le lit des gens pauvres et nus;

C'est la gloire des Dieux, c'est le grenier mystique,
C'est la bourse du pauvre et sa patrie antique,
C'est le portique ouvert sur les Cieux inconnus!
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Sleep sweet, fondly. There is nothing I want more in this world than to lay down and to feel no pain.