At the day I die

[jurisprudent]

On the day I die,
I will slowly lift above my deceased body,
I will slowly ascend and reach three metres over the earth.
I will sit there, on a chair of nothingness,
And I will watch the hurry and the fury,
The daze and the confusion
Of the people that will surround my dead Self.
I will see the cavalcade of faces passing by,
I will see the earth swallowing my body
And in the end, with the tide of the night,
I will go straight up to the lands I have always belonged to.
My flesh will be light,
My skin will be bright glitter,
I will be a construction of purity and symmetry.

[PrinceMyshkin]

Would that we could all foresee or imagine the moment after our death. Interesting speculation. I wonder if this is the product to some degree of religious influence?

[jurisprudent]

No, it is more or less a product of existential pondering. If we take the death of the body as the end of the degrading feelings of material existence, suffereing, etc., then the ascension will be the desire for light and purity. Hence, a religious parallel can be drawn easily but I have not been thinking of this when writing that piece, just my inner emotions and feelings.

[PrinceMyshkin]

No, it is more or less a product of existential pondering. If we take the death of the body as the end of the degrading feelings of material existence, suffereing, etc., then the ascension will be the desire for light and purity. Hence, a religious parallel can be drawn easily but I have not been thinking of this when writing that piece, just my inner emotions and feelings.

I have wondered 1) would I want to have a warning period in advance of my death? and 2) would I want to have a brief period immediately after my death, in which to realize that I have died (since I expect that the death of my body would coincide with the death of my consciousness)?

[Jerrybaldy]

I also read this as a religious piece. But thought provoking as Prince showed. I have sometimes thought I would like a seat at my funeral, but then wondered whether people may not be crying nearly hard enough ;)
cheers
JB

[jurisprudent]

Yes, now I realise it really looks like a religious piece, though I have not intended it as such. But if it has to be extended, it will include a funeral "seat" in great detail. It could have been longer.

Prince, it may sound strange, but I really cannot imagine death as simply an end, I always tend to think that my body will die but a spiritual element will remain to exist.

[Bar22do]

A nice poem, stimulating careful consideration, but would you mind throwing some light on what you feel is the "spiritual element"? also, why the feeling of material existence should be degrading? how could one expect purity and symmetry after a lifetime of suffering? what do you mean by "symmetry" in after-material-life?
Thanks for sharing this poem - and best regards to you - Bar

[jurisprudent]

By purity and symmetry I mean the real, you can say spiritual, dimensions of the soul. Because, a person can be obscure, ugly, crippled, etc., and the world will more or less judge him on his appearance and not on the "weight" of his inner life and self. So, leaving all the lifetime of matter and material things, the "spiritual" element exists as light, symmetry, purity, etc. Something like this.