Life is very long

“Life is very long” said T.S. Eliot at the ripe old age of 37. I wonder if he would have thought so, had he lived longer.

Life is, or can be, long if one considers the twists it takes, or the decisions made, or the mistakes. Long, too, taken in minutes or days. Even short lives are long in those terms.

But when one of us dies, especially a loved one, it can be much too short.

So it was with Eileen, a woman of years, a friend, a poet, a mother and grandmother, who died last week, ending a familiar battle with cancer, also long.

Eileen did not love easily, but fully. She did not suffer fools but was infinitely interested in you until you gave her reason not to be.

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