I long for life, and there is no help. I thirsted for the unknown: the thirst is gone. O God, let me stay with the known, and be weary of it: I am content. Agony of pain and suffocation—and all the while the earth, the fields, the pebbly brook at the bottom of the rookery, the fresh scent after the rain, the light of the morning through my chamber-window, the warmth of the hearth after the frosty air–will darkness close over them for ever?

Darkness—darkness—no pain—nothing but darkness: but I am passing on and on through darkness: my thought stays in the darkness, but always with a sense of moving onward …

From “The Lifted Veil” by George Eliot

George Eliot describes our state of mind when we face death, the simple and precious things we are about to lose, our longing to cling to life under any circumstances. Of course, this is not always the case because for some unfortunate people death is a relief and freedom from suffering.  George Eliot stresses darkness, “will darkness close over them for ever? Darkness—darkness—no pain—nothing but darkness: but I am passing on and on through darkness: my thought stays in the darkness …” Several years ago, I wrote a poem for one of my unpublished books, which deals with the Afterlife, where I express my feelings of what will remain of me after I am gone:

In a lightless darkness,

In a starless night,

In a noiseless silence,

The earth does not cry.

Emptiness fills the air …

I am a fading memory.