“ The roots which hold human life to earth are absorbed before it is lifted from its place. ”
Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., The Professor at the Breakfast-Table (1860). copy citation
| Author | Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. |
|---|---|
| Source | The Professor at the Breakfast-Table |
| Topic | life earth |
| Date | 1860 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2665/2665-h/2665-h.htm |
Context
“The fact of the tranquillity with which the great majority of dying persons await this locking of those gates of life through which its airy angels have been going and coming, from the moment of the first cry, is familiar to those who have been often called upon to witness the last period of life. Almost always there is a preparation made by Nature for unearthing a soul, just as on the smaller scale there is for the removal of a milktooth. The roots which hold human life to earth are absorbed before it is lifted from its place. Some of the dying are weary and want rest, the idea of which is almost inseparable in the universal mind from death. Some are in pain, and want to be rid of it, even though the anodyne be dropped, as in the legend, from the sword of the Death-Angel.”
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