Memento Mori

(In the Middle Ages, tombs and monuments often bore carvings of skulls or decaying corpses. The idea was to remind the onlooker that he, too, was marked for death. These figures were known as "memento mori".) Approach me, stranger. Nothing in my story should startle you. Your flesh has always known it. I just remind you. I'm Memento Mori. Yes, this is what awaits you. Don't disown it. You came in laughing, vital, carefree, easy, but now your peace is ruined. Go, bemoan it, and when your Pinot Grigio, risi e bisi no longer please your palate, and your lover, so far from comforting you, makes you queasy, think hard. There's more to life than quail and plover. Many things may never happen. This one must. There's less to life than hope, as you'll discover. For what you are now, that's what I once was. See? See what I am? It's what you're going to be.