We look for something profound in last words – a summation of a lifetime, a way of approaching that mysterious zone that straddles this world and the next. We hear the promise of hope and feel the chill of horror. Some are sad, others hilarious. However, all last words have one thing in common: the weight of finality.
When the Buddha was close upon 80, illness warned him that his end was impending. Yet he did not want to depart from existence without first having spoken to his disciples. He told Ananda Thera that he had grown old and his journey was coming to an end. Having arrived at Kusinara the Buddha spent his last hours addressing his bhikkhus.
His last words were: “Behold now, brethren, I exhort you, decay is inherent in all component things. Work out your salvation with diligence.” The great redeemer Jesus Christ’s last words as quoted by Luke were: “Into thy hands I commend my spirit.”
Baffling
Some last words of philosophers were quite baffling. On his deathbed Hegel said, “Only one man ever understood me – and he didn’t understand me.” Nobody knows what he meant. Pierre Gassendi while dying said, “I was born without knowing why I have lived, and I am dying without knowing either why or how.”
The celebrated Greek philosopher Socrates who was condemned to death lifted the cup of poison and said, “Crito, I owe a cock to Asclepius; will you remember to pay the debt?” His words show how duty conscious he had been in his life. Goethe said: “More light! More light!” before his death. Psychoanalyst Carl Jung whispered to his son: “Quick, help me out of bed. I want to look at the sunset.”
Kings and great warriors too have left us a wealth of last words. General Winfield Scott while breathing his last asked his servant to take good care of his horse. Doctors told Lord Palmerston that he was about to die. He simply said, “Die, my dear doctor? That’s the last thing I shall do.”
Charles II (1630-1685) was a patron of the arts and a benefactor of science. He gave us the Royal Society, Greenwich Observatory and a dozen other stimulants to artistic and intellectual development. On his deathbed he asked a duke to look after Louise and his poor children. Then he said, “And don’t let poor Nelly starve.” Horatio Nelson (1758-1805) was the Admiral who defeated Napoleon and established Britain as the undisputed mistress of the seas. He breathed out his soul with the words: “God and my country.”
Judges, playwrights, authors and poets too have left us their last words. Shortly before his death Judge John Marshall Harlan of the U.S. Supreme Court became semi-conscious and spoke his farewell words to those who were at his bedside: “Goodbye, I am sorry to have kept you all waiting so long.”
A few hours before his death, Marcel Proust asked his servant to bring to his bed a certain page from his manuscript wherein the death agony of his characters was described – because I have several retouchings to make here, now that I find myself in the same predicament.” Novelist O Henry wanted to have the lights turned on when he was dying. He said: “I don’t want to go in the dark.”
The great Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen was about to pass away when a nurse told him that his health seemed improved. “On the contrary!” said Ibsen and died. John Holmes, uncle of Oliver Wendell Holmes, was on his deathbed when a nurse reached under the covers to feel his feet. She whispered to relatives that Holmes still lived. Holmes opened his eyes and said, “Nobody ever died with their feet warm, John Rogers did.”
William Shakespeare was an authority on many subjects. He was aware of the awe the living attached to the last words. In Richard II the dying Duke of Lancaster tells the Duke of York:
“O, but they say the tongues of dying men
Enforce attention like deep harmony:
Where words are scarce they are seldom spent in vain,
For they breathe truth that breathe their words in pain”
A pinch of salt
Sometimes last words have to be taken with a pinch of salt because the dead people are not around to confirm or deny their closing words. Eager to maintain a reputation the living may supplant truth. However, the last words of those who had been executed can be relied upon because there are official records.
Sir Thomas More asked the executioner to wait until he thrust his beard aside. He said, “This hath not offended the King.” Sir Walter Raleigh felt the edge of the axe about to be used on him and said, “This is a sharp medicine, but a sure remedy for all evils.”
William Palmer who killed one of his friends with poison stepped on the gallows and asked the executioner: “Are you sure it’s safe?” In the process of executing the Russian revolutionary Michael Bestuzhev Ryumin the rope broke at the first attempt to hang him. He said, “Nothing succeeds with me. Even here I meet with disappointment.”
During the French Revolution Queen Marie Antoinette told the executioner: “Monsieur, I beg your pardon” when she accidentally stepped on his toe. The notorious killer Neil Cream shouted: “I am Jack …” when he was executed, but he could not add “the Ripper!” When the Chicago murderer George Appel was strapped into the electric chair, he said: “Well, folks, you’ll soon see a baked Appel!”
Painter Perugino, lying on his deathbed said, “I am curious to see what happens in the next world.” Heinrich Heine, however, said: “God will forgive me … it’s his profession.” However, John Rogers when he was burned at the stake as a heretic in 1555 said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” A minister told Etham Allen that angels were waiting for him. He simply said: “Well, God damn ‘em, let them wait!”
Connection
Sometimes last words had some connection with the dying man’s profession. Grammarian Dominique Bouhours on his deathbed said: “I am about to – or I am going to – die either expression is used.” Editor and publisher Clarence Walker’s last words were: “What’s the news?”
Physician George Combe’s last words were: “From my present sensation I should say I was dying – and I am glad of it.” Before his death, another physician Joseph Henry Green felt his own pulse and said: “Stopped.” Author G.K. Chesterton lying on his deathbed said: “The issue is now clear. It is between light and darkness and everyone must choose his side.”
