Iguana

“Once I shot an Iguana.
I thought that I should be able to make some pretty things
from his skin. A strange thing happened then,
that I have never afterwards forgotten.
As I went up to him, where he was lying dead upon his stone,
and actually, while I was walking the few steps, 
he faded and grew pale, all colour died out of him
as in one long sigh, and by the time that I touched him
he was grey and dull like a lump of concrete.
It was the live impetuous blood pulsating within the animal
which had radiated out all that glow and splendor.
Now that flame was put out, and the soul had flown,
the Iguana was as dead as a sandbag.”

~​Isak Dinesen, Out of Africa

Everything that lives dies 
Dying is the hardest thing we do 
Everything that breathes eats 
Dying is the hardest thing we do 
Everything that teaches grows 
Dying is the hardest thing we do 
Everything that loves spreads 
Dying is the hardest thing we do
Everything that wakes sleeps 
Dying is the hardest thing we do 
Everything that endures forgives 
Dying is the hardest thing we do. 

And when we die, the hardest thing our people do is not fear. 
And when we die, the hardest thing our people do is to grieve.
And when we die, the hardest thing our people do is to live. 

​Grief is an act of humanity. 

​Shine on. Wish you were here-