A Mother’s Speech from William Saroyan’s “The Human Comedy”

(Ulysses waving at people on a train passing his hometown Ithaca)

“Death,” she said, “is not an easy thing for anyone to understand, least of all a child, but every life shall end.” She looked at Ulysses. “That day came for your father two years ago.” She looked back at Bess and Mary. “but as long as we are alive,” she said, “as long as we are together, as long as two of us are left, and remember him, nothing in the world can take him from us. His body can be taken, but not him. You shall know your father better as you grow and know yourself better,” she said. “he is not dead, because you are alive. Time and accident, illness and weariness took his body, but already you have given it back to him, younger and more eager than ever. I don’t expect you to understand anything I’m telling you. But I know you will remember this–that nothing good ever ends. If it did, there would be no people in the world–no life at all, anywhere. And the world is full of people and full of wonderful life.”

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