Death is not too high a price to pay
for having lived. Mountains never die,
nor do the seas or rocks or endless sky.
Through countless centuries of time, they stay
eternal, deathless. Yet they never live!
If choice were there, I would not hesitate
to choose mortality. Whatever Fate
demanded in return for life I’d give,
for never to have seen the fertile plains
nor heard the winds nor felt the warm sun on sands
beneath a salty sea, not touched the hands
of those I love - without these, all the gains
of timelessness would not be worth one day
of living and loving; come what may.— Dorothy N. Monroe
I remember hearing this poem read as ministry in Meeting. That was years and years ago. Recently, a composer reached out to me asking for help in tracking down the origin on this poem. This led me to ask on /r/poetry/. A helpful Redditor pointed out a probable source:
This source Day of Promise: Selections from Unitarian Universalist Meditation Manuals says it’s from Stopping Places, which, according to this, is a “1974 UUA meditation manual / by Unitarian Universalist women writers, edited by Mary Lou Thompson; drawings by Lydia Breed. – Boston: Unitarian Universalist Association, c1974”.
It turned out that a copy of Stopping places for sale on eBid. And in the table of contents, there is an entry for “The Cost” by Dorothy N. Monroe. It turns out that the book is available in some libraries too.
Thompson, Mary Lou, et al. Stopping Places : 1974 UUA Meditation Manual. Unitarian Universalist Association, 1974.
Published: Aug 11, 2024 @ 11:32.
Last Modified: Aug 14, 2024 @ 21:21.
Home / Now / Blog / Notes / Reading / Office Camera / Tags / Bookmarks / RSS Feeds / Top of Page
Thanks for reading! If you have any comments or questions about the content, please let me know. Anyone can contact me by email.