Twilight Reflections 10 – We Only Have Two Lives

I have recently been reading about the work of Brazilian poet and novelist
Mário Raul de Morais Andrade, who was born in 1893 and lived all his life in Sao
Paolo,Brazil.
In Andrade’s poem The Valuable Time of Maturity I came across these
poignant words “We only have two lives – and the second begins when you
realise that you only have one.”
He begins the poem by saying that he has counted his years and realised that
he now has less time to live than he has lived so far. He compares himself to a boy
who has won a bag of sweets. As he opened the bag, he ate the sweets quickly and
with pleasure – but as he realised that the quantity of sweets was getting smaller
and smaller, he started eating them more carefully, savouring them slowly and
tasting them more intensely
I have now reached the twilight of my life (even though I hope that this
period of twilight, when there is still light in the sky before dusk falls, lasts for a
good deal longer!) and I have come to accept that my Past is now longer than my
Future. As one of my friends who is the same age as myself recently reminded me,
it is a truth universally acknowledged that the Second half of your life – anyone’s
life – goes more quickly than the First.

So how do I intend to live the remaining years that will be allotted to me by
the Three Moirai –those sisters in Greek mythology who are said to be responsible
for the destiny of each of us, a destiny over which we really have no control?
During my professional career I have looked after patients who kept
themselves active and healthy well into their eighties and even their nineties – as
well as those who succumbed to illness and ill health to pass away in their early
fifties. At what point in our own lives do we become conscious of the ephemeral
nature of Time and of our own mortality?
After all, Death is not a topic we like to think about or talk about. When we
are young – when Life is loved and lived carefree – Old Age, Sickness and Death
are far from our minds. As the 1972 song made famous by Mary Hopkin reminds
us ‘Those were the days, my friend, we thought they’d never end…..for we were
young and sure to have our way.’
But as we reach the Twilight Years, we realise that it is important to not
waste time on unnecessary activities. Life is too short to waste hours on those
typical Sri Lankan conversation topics of “Chodhana’ and ‘Yojana”- or as
Andrade described in his poem on ‘endless meetings where statutes, rules,
procedures and internal regulations are discussed, knowing that nothing will be
done.’
I for one would like to value every moment allotted to me by the Moirai and
spend my time in the company of old friends and humane folk – people who know
how to laugh at themselves and don’t take themselves too seriously, who are not
pompous or inflated by their own successes.

Before dusk finally falls, I consider it a privilege to be able to spend this
time of my life in Sri Lanka – a beautiful land that has been blessed by Nature but
has been governed over the decades by incompetent politicians (many of whom
have been older than I nwo am when they ruled this land !).
Like the little boy who was given a big of sweets I want to savour them
slowly, share them with like-minded folk – and enjoy them to the full.
I am sure they will taste even better than the sweets I have had so far.

Sanjiva Wijesinha is the author of Tales From my Island – see
https://www.amazon.com/Tales-Island-Stories-Friendship-Childhood-
ebook/dp/B00R3TS1QQ/