We are not asked when we like to be born, Marco, nor is it up to us when to die.
"And again, Marco, consider.

If she were to have come to you in the dark of the moon-time, in the strange mystic hours when you can hear eternity tick like a clock, your eyes would have been not on this world, but the next.

Your look would have been vacant that's now keen to discover injustice.

Your body would have been flabby that's now whalebone and steel.

And there would have been no memory of you in China, that's now like sweet honey in the mouth.
"Would a wee dead spirit be proud of a man, Marco, and he just crying, crying, crying, and letting the days go by while even the brown bee works, and even the grass grows that cattle may fatten and men eat?
She might be sorry, but would there be pride on her?
Even a dead woman wants a strong man.
"Now, I'm not saying that the silent dead should not have a voice in our affairs when we need them.