In the midst of life we are in death
Two Gaelic proverbs about death

Du Fu: My soul does not come when called

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How did I come to spend my life in this miserable valley?
In the middle of the night I get up. Ten thousand worries and griefs...
My soul does not come when called. It's gone back to its old home.

Du Fu (712–770). Although he was one of China's greatest poets, he lived in tumultuous times, lost two children to starvation, wandered as an exile with his family far from home, dependent on wealthier friends, and spent the last part of his life in great sickness and poverty. From "Seven poems written while living at Tonggu during the Qianyuan Era" (758–760)

我生何為在窮谷
中夜起坐萬感集...
魂捐不來歸故鄉

乾元中寓居同谷縣作歌七首

 

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