Large Fierce Mammal

Death the Classic, by Swedish Art Teacher and Fantasy Painter Fredrik Eriksson.

“There comes a time in the life of every child when the realization arrives that people and animals die, and nothing you feel, say, or do will change it.

“Your Parents will die.

“Every grownup who matters to you will die.

“Your most beloved pets will die.

“Everyone you know will die.

“You will die.

“For Life to be Truly meaningful, from that initial epiphany there must grow a relationship with Death as a perpetual and ever so reliable companion. An understanding that Death makes His presence felt every day in ways that have nothing to do with breath being stilled, or hearts ceasing to beat. Just as we accept beginnings, so must we accept endings, and while endings by their very definition are permanent, so too do they mark beginnings — from the death of the lamb, the feast begins.” ~ Death and the Child

Over its many seasons, Death has been a recurring matter of discussion in these pages. We’ve had A Tipple With Death, seduced Death, watched unjudging while Death was inflicted, examined The Life of Death, had Fun With Death, passed Death in a Hospital hallway, slipped languidly into La Petite Mort, and that’s just scratching the topsoil.

Death is universal and, unlike the personifications of ultimate Good and ultimate Evil prescribed by some systems of religious belief, is neither. Death cares nothing for what you believe, want, or don’t want, and is an integral part of The Way of the Wild:

“The Way of the Wild deals with Life, Death, who gets each, and when. For successful organisms, embracing this Way is not a choice, and of all things on the Earth, only one kind flirts with living as though this were not so – Man. For the most part, human society does not embrace Wild in its Natural sense, viewing it instead as representing all that is wanton, dangerous, and out of control. An unpredictably unacceptable condition fit only to be tamed or eradicated for the greater; i. e., human; good. Down that path lies a disconnection wrought by an artificially orchestrated thing called “civilization”, built on a foundation of conflict with the Way of the Wild. This will one day resolve itself, one way or another, and of that resolution only one thing can be said with certainty – the Way of the Wild will prevail, as it always has and always will.” ~ Worldly Wisdom Wednesday – The Way of the Wild

With that in mind, I present tonight’s Dark Sentiment by way of Death and the Winemaker (Le Vigneron et la Mort) a 2021 animated short film written and directed by Victor Jaquier, produced by Arnaud S. Gantenbein. An excellent rendering of a story that appears across the world, last told to me from a Polish perspective by my late Esteemed Father in Law, Ryszard.

Something rejuvenating with this I think. You wouldn’t want to … nod … off.