Monday, March 19, 2018

A flameout


"...When there was nobody to care or know, this gigantic effort on the part of an insignificant little moth, against a power of such magnitude, to retain what no one else valued or desired to keep, moved one strangely...

"The body relaxed, and instantly grew stiff. The struggle was over. The insignificant little creature now knew death. As I looked at the dead moth, this minute wayside triumph of so great a force over so mean an antagonist filled me with wonder...

"The moth having righted itself now lay most decently and uncomplainingly composed.

"O yes, he seemed to say, death is stronger than I am."

-- Virginia Woolf, "The Death of a Moth."

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