Why Not? by Julia Fehrenbacher

If death is inevitable, if it is a sure
thing that this face, these hands,
this body that holds a lifetime of this living,
will, someday, no longer be here,
if you don’t get to take a single thing with you—

then—

why spend a moment more refusing,
worrying about who might disapprove,
measuring every move
as if there is some fixed formula you must
find? Why hold tight to anything?

Why not, instead, love every honeyed drop of yourself,
why not leap into life—belly-laughing
and light, light like the soft kiss of moonlight,
light like the light that you are,
have always been, will always be—

why not take this quickly passing day
by the hand and dance
like there’s no tomorrow? And if you’re too tired
to dance, why not rest lightly here
just as you are?

Why Not?

Why not? Here is a question that demands you agree with a proposition, or, at least work hard to come up with sound arguments against it. If death is inevitable, Fehrenbacher begins, an irrefutable statement, no ifs about it, though we tend to shy away from this reality. Someday, this body that holds a lifetime of this living will no longer be alive, and you certainly don’t get to take a single thing with you.

Since this is true, why spend a moment more refusing, saying no for fear of others’ disapproval, trying to measure up to some fixed formula you must / find? She is asking us to consider the strictures passed on to us through family, society, culture, the beliefs we have absorbed in our lifetime. Some of these restrictions are useful of course, yet there comes a time to question these limitations.

She offers the invitation to love every honeyed drop of yourself, to say an unconstrained yes to life and to light, like the light that you are, / have always been, will always be. Why not dance with this quickly passing day, which will never come again in exactly the same way? Even if you are too tired to dance, too sad or overwhelmed, why not rest lightly here / just as you are? Why not let it all in, even if just for a moment? Why not indeed?