Monday, May 23, 2011

"And did you get what

you wanted from this life, even so?
I did.
And what did you want?
To call myself beloved, to feel myself
beloved on the earth."


A late fragment written by Raymond Carver shortly before his death. It was found on a crumpled piece of paper on his desk that was nearly thrown away by accident. Now, it's the epitaph on his grave: six perfect lines that in the end are all any of us want.

1 comment:

  1. GRAVY

    No other word will do. For that’s what it was. Gravy.
    Gravy these past ten years.
    Alive, sober, working, loving and
    being loved by a good woman. Eleven years
    ago he was told he had six months to live
    at the rate he was going. And he was going
    nowhere but down. So he changed his ways
    somehow. He quit drinking! And the rest?
    After that it was all gravy, every minute
    of it, up to and including when he was told about,
    well, some things that were breaking down and
    building up inside his head. “Don’t weep for me,”
    he said to his friends. “Im a lucky man.
    I’ve had ten years longer than I or anyone
    expected. Pure gravy. And don’t you forget it.”

    Raymond Carver

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