Sad Endings

There are many, the threads of a public life always unravelling into more sadness. We read of so and so and his ending her dire departing. The sadness is a gesture, an acknowledgement that we knew all along. Last days withdraw into a quiescence, a sequestering of parables within a closed room. A meddling hearsay awakens a salacious interest; columns of gossip followed by a tell-tale unearthed. One more pinch of sadness investigated, exposed. The tarnish remains the sadness. An extraordinary life left broken by the ransacking, the endless peeping of post-obituary years.