I should like these few words to be read over the grave when my body is placed in the earth; for though it is possible I may be present and conscious of what is going on, I shall not be able to communicate.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I am a soul. I know well that what I shall render up to the grave is not myself. That which is myself will go elsewhere. Earth, thou art not my abyss!
Heaven lent you a soul, Earth will lend a grave.
Caution: These verses may be hazardous to your solemnity.
Let my body be delivered to the earth without attention to the place where it lies; nothing should be associated with my dusty remains. Shame on him who draws any attention to a rotted flesh that is already no longer mine: he is worshipping the worms nibbling it.
To substitute Scripture for the self-revealing Spirit is to put the dead letter in the place of the living Word.
The dead keep their secrets, and in a while we shall be as wise as they - and as taciturn.
I will not leave a corner of my consciousness covered up, but saturate myself with the strange and extraordinary new conditions of this life, and it will all refine itself into poetry later on.
Teach me to live, that I may dread The grave as little as my bed.
When I am dead and buried, on my tombstone I would like to have it written, 'I have arrived.' Because when you feel that you have arrived, you are dead.
I shall have more to say when I am dead.