The Land of the Living
Land of the Living This is how I perceived my life for much of the time since my beloved Susan left this life: I was sure my life was over once With a backward glance I watched all my dreams dissolve and fall apart Lost the thread, I dropped out of the race When I lost my place IN the center of her heart… EPITAPH FOR LOVE BETH NIELSEN-CHAPMAN I occupied some weird and mysterious space somewhere between life and death. I got up every day and went through the motions, for all intents and purposes, a zombie with a distaste for brains. And yet throughout that time, there was some sort of flame flickering in the depths of my consciousness. I would not relent, would not submit to the darkness that I so desperately craved. And then, as I detailed in a previous essay, my daughter-in-law told me she did not think I had a will to live. She was correct. Wisdom and self-awareness often come in small pearls and often some time and some assembly is required. When m