Would that death were like this. Would that one would sleep and sleep and sleep forever.
Interpretation
The quote reflects a longing for eternal rest, likening death to a peaceful sleep.
Anne Rice's quote expresses a deep yearning for the tranquil relief that death might bring, suggesting a desire for an end to suffering and an escape into eternal rest. It captures a contemplative perspective on the nature of mortality, conveying both a wistful acceptance and a profound longing for peace in the face of lifeβs struggles.
In practice
In a reflective eulogy, one might say, 'As Anne Rice put it, would that death were like this, a peaceful sleep.'
From my stone pillow I have dreamed dreams of the mortal world above. I have heard its voices, its new music, as lullabies as I lie in my grave. I have envisioned its fantastical discoveries. I have known its courage in the timeless sanctum of my thoughts. And though it shuts me out with its dazzling forms, I long for one with the strength to roam it fearlessly, to ride the Devil's Road through its heart.
We all suffer under a curse, the curse that we know more than we can endure, and there is nothing, absolutely nothing we can do about the force and the lure of this knowledge.
And so this young one, this young one whom I had so loved, I had to forsake, no matter how broken my heart, no matter how lonely my soul, no matter how bruised my intellect and spirit.
Dear God, help me. Do not forget me on this tiny cinder lost in a galaxy that is lostβa heart no bigger than a speck of dust beating, beating against death, against meaninglessness, against guilt, against sorrow.
The vampires have always been metaphors for me. They've always been vehicles through which I can express things I have felt very, very deeply.
In the very depths of Hell, do not demons love one another?
There has never been a time in which I have been convinced from within myself that I am alive. You see, I have only such a fugitive awareness of things around me that I always feel they were once real and are now fleeting away. I have a constant longing, my dear sir, to catch a glimpse of things as they may have been before they show themselves to me.
Part of you died each year when the leaves fell from the trees and their branches were bare against the wind and the cold, wintry light.
Our lives are the sum of our memories. How much are we willing to lose from our already short lives by β¦ not paying attention?
A Christian is not someone who never goes wrong, but one who is enabled to repent and pick himself up and begin again, because the Christ-life is inside him.
The fundamental issue is the moral issue.
People need a sacred narrative. They must have a sense of larger purpose, in one form or another, however intellectualized. They will find a way to keep ancestral spirits alive.
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