The word ‘goodbye’ is used when you are leaving someone. In its extended meaning it can mean the last words you utter at the time of death which is also a journey from here to an unknown destination. While ordinary people say nothing important at the time of their departure, celebrated authors, philosophers, scientists and religious leaders have left us a wealth of last words.
William Caxton who published great literary works such as ‘Reynard the Fox, Golden Legend,’ and Chaucer’s ‘House of Fame’ was engaged in translating the ‘Lives of the Fathers.’ When he reached the end of the work, he laid down his pen – and his life. He died in harness with a prayer on his pen. Those who love literature should pray for him, not for the mechanical invention, but for the ideals which he set before him.
On September 27, 1895, when someone leant over Louis Pasteur’s bed to offer him a cup of milk, he said sadly, “I cannot” with a look of perfect resignation and peace. He seemed to be falling asleep. However, he never opened his eyes to the cares and sufferings of a world which he had done so much to relieve and to conquer.
French people voted for him at a plebiscite as the greatest man that France had ever produced. Napoleon, who has always been considered the idol of France, was placed fifth.
Pungent irony
While in England, the great Dr Johnson drank gallons of tea and thundered for piety with his mighty wit; in France a shrivelled manikin swilled litres of coffee and attacked orthodoxy with powerful and pungent irony. He was Voltaire who was the greatest journalist who ever lived. On May 30, 1778, still surrounded by a clamorous throng of visitors, Voltaire died. His last words were: “Do leave me to die in peace!”
The celebrated poet William Blake lay in bed in August 1827. He cried suddenly to his wife, “Stay as you are! You have been ever an angel to me; I will draw you.” He seized his pencil and began to draw. Then he lay back in bed composing and singing songs to God. He died like a saint on the evening of August 12, 1827. Blake was a great designer, poet and mystic.
After arriving at Kusinara, Gautama Buddha spent his last hours addressing his monks. He said, “Behold now, brethren, I exhort you saying decay is inherent in all component things. Work out your salvation with diligence.” Then the Enlightened One passed away.
Dignified address
The great Greek philosopher Socrates was condemned to death by drinking hemlock, the Athenian method of capital punishment. The philosopher accepted the verdict calmly, and continued his dignified address to the court, “But it is time to depart, for me to die, for you to live,” he concluded. “But which of us is going to a better state is unknown to everyone but God.” Just before he lapsed into unconsciousness after taking the poison, Socrates gave instructions about a minor sacrifice which he had forgotten.
Sir Walter Raleigh, the hero of the heroic age of England, was condemned to death. He arrived on the scaffold, took up the axe, and running his finger along the edge, mused, “This is a sharp medicine to cure all my diseases.”
Saying goodbye is as much a part of living as saying “Hello.” Robert Burn’s “Farewell to Nancy” is one of the best-known of all goodbye poems. It contains all the elements of the classic goodbye – unrequited love, despair, hope, good wishes – and ends:
“Had we never lov’d sae kindly,
Had we never lov’d sae blindly;
Never met – or, never parted,
We had ne’er been
brokenhearted.”
Literary goodbye
Tragedy plays a large part in the literary goodbye. In Charles Dickens’ “A Tale of Two Cities,” Sydney Carton sacrifices himself on the guillotine after one of the most memorable goodbyes in literature: “It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to, than I have ever known.”
The most heart-breaking goodbye in William Shakespeare belongs to Romeo and Juliet and the most memorable parting words are Juliet’s:
“Good night, good night!
Parting is such sweet sorrow
That I shall say good night till it be tomorrow.”
There are memorable political goodbyes. The U.S. President Harry Truman said, “Three things corrupt a man: power, money and woman. I never had but one woman, and she’s right at home. I never wanted power and I never had any money, so I don’t miss it.”
King Edward VII in his abdication speech at the constitutional crisis of 1936, brought on by his determination to wed the American divorcee Wallis Warfield Simpson, told his subjects: “You must believe me, when I tell you that I have found it impossible to carry the heavy burden of responsibility and to discharge my duties as king as I would wish to do, without the help and the support of the woman I love.”
Great ordeal
The wartime British Prime Minister Winston Churchill summed up his feelings about being defeated at the polls in the first post war election in Britain. “Then, on the night of the tenth of May, 1940, at the outset of this mighty battle I acquired the chief power in the state, which henceforth I wielded in ever growing measure for five years and three months of World War, at the end of which time our enemies having surrendered unconditionally or being about to do so, I was immediately dismissed by the British electorate from all further conduct of their affairs.” On his death-bed Churchill laughed and said, “I am ready to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter.”
Some goodbyes uttered immediately before death are profound. However, there are also absurd pronouncements on the subject of death. Before passing away, Bernard Shaw told his nurse: “Sister, you are trying to keep me alive as an old curiosity, but I am done. I’m finished. I’m going to die.” Some people do not take death seriously. Lytton Strachey, a British biographer said, “If this is dying, I don’t think much of it.”
However, for others the final goodbye is nothing more than a journey home. Gregory Clark, 82, a Canadian journalist said, “Well, I am all packed and ready to go. I’m an aged agnostic, unafraid of death and undeluded with thoughts of a life hereafter.”
A young lady calling on Agnes Repplier, got ready to go, put on her hat and coat, put her hands in her muff, took them out, picked up a parcel, laid it down, shifted from one foot to another and then said, “There was something I meant to say, but I’ve forgotten.” “Perhaps, my dear,” Miss Repplier replied, “It was goodbye.”
Final outcome
Sometimes goodbyes can be made quite innocently not knowing the final outcome. Anthony J. Drexel III of the well-known banking family, showing a souvenir pistol to a friend said, “Here’s one you’ve never seen before …” and accidentally shot himself. A similar incident took place opposite a university in Sri Lanka. Two female undergraduates were waiting to cross the road. One of them suddenly bade goodbye to the other and ran across the road only to be run over by a speeding vehicle.
Some people before committing suicide leave notes or say goodbye to their friends. A member of the ill-fated Scott expedition to the Antarctic Oates was overcome with depression. He did not want to be a burden to his team. One day he walked out of his tent and told his friends, “I’m just going out and may be back some time.” However, he never came back.
Those who are condemned to death also bid goodbye to those present. Sometimes they are hanged before they could complete what they wanted to say. Thomas Neil Cream, a Canadian hanged for murder in England, blurted out, “I am Jack the …” just as the noose tightened around his neck. Later he was found to be Jack the Ripper, a notorious criminal.
Apart from those who say something before their death, millions of people die without saying goodbye to anybody. [email protected]