Death. The act of dying, the end of the line. Some people choose to accept the fact that it's the end of the line. They might even welcome Death. While some people refuse to belly up to the fact that there is no more. No more time to rewrite the past, no way to mortality. Whether you are going to accept Death or refuse the fact that there is no more, Death welcomes you as a guest. A permanent guest. He rises you up from your bump in the ground and he takes you for a ride that lasts an eternity. You see, Death has a persistent will to make sure you stay with him...forever. Whether you choose to accept his hand into the carriage or not is not my problem.
"Because I could not stop for Death" is a poem by Emily Dickinson that describes her rather accepting encounter with Death. The poem reads, "Because I could not stop for Death, He kindly stopped for me". When Death wants to take you, he does, and it doesn't matter if you are busy or unready. He will take you when he feels it's your time. The poem proceeds to read, "The carriage held but just ourselves, and Immortality" . It's a ride with Death for one, and let's just say that this ride is going to last a long, long time. The beginning of the second stanza reads, "We slowly drove, he knew no haste". Why does Death have to rush? He knows not of running out of time, for he has Eternity on his side. From there female unknown says, "And I had put away my labor, my leisure too, for his civility". She put away all of her distracting thoughts so she could just enjoy the ride with Death. The ride that she will never step out of the carriage from.
In the third stanza, she "passed the school, where children strove at recess, in the ring" Death is kind enough to drive the carriage by a school. There, children play as they do, and maybe they weren't just any old school. Maybe Death took her by her school; he took her for a ride by her own life as a sick joke. People say that after you die, your brain still has seven minutes to go over all your important memories in your life, almost as if your life flashes before your eyes. It could be like the same thing; dear old Death is taking her for a ride through her previous life. What a kind soul he is. The poem continues to read, "We passed the fields of grazing grain, we passed the setting sun, or rather he passed us". They didn't pass the lovely scenery, because once you are dead, don't you become part of the scenery? Your soul pants a seed in the grazing grain, with the other seeds and you go down with the setting sun. The only thing is you won't be rising with the sun ever again. Female unknown describes how "The dews grew quivering and chill, for only gossamer my gown, my tippet only tulle". The major tell tale sign for when someone is dead is if they are cold. It also seems that she isn't dressed appropriately for her ride:a gossamer and tippet? Fine pieces of clothing she has on, maybe for a wedding or even a funeral. Maybeher funeral.
The fifth stanza describes how she "paused before a house that seemed a swelling in the ground; the roof scarcely visible, the cornice but a mound". A house that seemed but a swelling in the ground, with a cornice in the ground, which is also known a gravestone. I feel like that swelling in the ground is a freshly dug and buried grave. She implies, "Since then 'tis centuries, and yet each feels shorter than the day". She has been along for the ride for awhile now. But what is 'awhile'? To Death, Eternity is just a mere span of time, but days can be considered awhile to the mortal. Finally, the poem announces, "I first surmised the horses' heads were towards Eternity". It feels like like centuries are shorter than twenty four hours. Well that, my dear, is because hours, days, years, eternities are like seconds compared to Eternity.
Death. No more time to rewrite the past, no way to mortality. At first, Death welcomed her, and she unknowingly took Death's hand as he lead her into the carriage. Soon after, female unknown realized that there is no escape from this ride with Death, but she accepted the fact that her time ran out. There was nothing that she could change, and she just sat back and enjoyed her ride through Eternity.
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