An insomniac's Psalm 103: Verse 15

"As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field . . ."

I was 16 when I saw Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet, and it marked me. I remember the opening scene at Capulet's party when the minstrel enthralled onlookers with his stringed instrument while Romeo and Juliet were falling in love across the crowded room. His tune, if we could have but peered into the future, formed the dark backdrop and prophetic utterance of the drama to unfold:

What is a youth? Impetuous fire.

What is a maid? Ice and desire.

The world wags on.

A rose will bloom, it then will fade.

So does a youth, so does the fairest maid.

Be it by hellish potion, suddenly and untimely, or by the soft landing of old age, the grave will reclaim its dust. What does it matter, the octogenarian is no different from the teenager in the end.

In the movie Il Postino, a man is insufferably in love with the untouchable town beauty. His street philosopher friend casts off the comment that in 50 years she will look like everybody else. That's one way of handling unappeasable longing. For myself, I always feel sad when beautiful women grow old, when "the bloom is off the rose," as the cliché so aptly puts it. I wish Elizabeth Taylor could look like Elizabeth Taylor forever.

The first New Yorker cartoon I ever saw, before I was 8 years old, depicted an aging man on his second story balcony, observing lovers below walking hand in hand and muttering to himself something like, "I too was in love. But I still got arthritis." The cartoon affected me in some way that I could not articulate at the time.

Scripture's philosophy avoids the opposite responses of hedonism and stoicism:

"Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes. But know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment" (Ecclesiastes 11:9).

I am too sad to comment more on this verse.

To read "Verse 16," click here.

To hear commentaries by Andrée Seu, click here.