On Living and Dying

~ after Nazim Hikmet


There are currently 10 states plus 
       Washington, DC where medically assisted
dying is legal. But there will be no end
       to the arguments and debates concerning
the ethicality of letting anyone— doctor,
       patient, next of kin— decide when enough
is enough, or why that should be the only possible 
       choice, despite the inevitability of what's to come.
Nazim Hikmet said, however and wherever we are,
       we must live as if we will never die. This is
such a strange paradox, because we know we'll die  
       at some point. He said, living must be your whole
occupation. We know the weight of living is heavy, 
       and we're afraid of how, by itself, death 
never announces when it comes. But the poet says
       think of the audacious— plant some kind 
of fruiting tree in your old age, enjoy the humor of little
       moments, even as wars are waged and millions 
of microbes circle this earth that has been dying
       ever since it was born. You've just spent 
the rest of your paycheck again on another home 
       repair issue, or helping out a child in need. 
Every day brings a new kind of sadness. What 
       is anyone to do? Find a new set of batteries, 
string some lights in the window. Turn them on: 
       their feeble glow seems almost to contain 
the dark, even if they are only what they are and not
       some grand, metaphysical pronouncement.