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Cause of Death.

We’re all used to that phrase –

Almost inoculated against it

From thousands of detective novels

And forensic medicine programmes.

But what exactly IS ‘death’?

At one level, of course,

It’s the total absence of life:

Its discontinuation:

Its ‘cul de sac’

Its very ‘dead’ end.

 .

But what is death for?

What purpose might it serve?

Indeed, do we have to die….?

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Some scientists speak of ‘Scenescence’:

The ‘Force of Natural Selection’

Weakening to the point at which

Life can’t continue to sustain itself

Beyond the urge to reproduce.

 .

Does Gravity naturally ‘weaken’ over time?

No, it obeys fundamental laws: is immutable.

.

Does the speed of light lessen

With time or distance?

Clearly not.

.

So why should this supposed

‘Force of Natural Selection’ weaken?

 .

Is scenescence, then, nothing more

Than a theoretical ‘mise-en-scene’ –

The best explanation we can find

Until something better comes along?

.

But hang on!

There could be evidence of an upside:

So-called Negative Scenescence,

Whereby one might become

More successful with age

[Yes, but first define ‘success’]!

Predictably, for those of my age,

Evidence for this remains discouragingly ‘sketchy’.

Then there is the Hydra.

Cut off a bit

And it grows another entire body

And lives another entire life.

Wonder whether we can unravel

The potential that might lie there…

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NB. The photo is of a bust of Mahsati Gandjavi – a renowned Persian poetess – who ‘lives‘ hundreds of years after her time through her poetic output…