Bit by Bit - Chapter 2, Part 10

Trey Smith

Once a man receives this fixed bodily form, he holds on to it, waiting for the end. Sometimes clashing with things, sometimes bending before them, he runs his course like a galloping steed, and nothing can stop him. Is he not pathetic? Sweating and laboring to the end of his days and never seeing his accomplishment, utterly exhausting himself and never knowing where to look for rest - can you help pitying him? I'm not dead yet! he says, but what good is that? His body decays, his mind follows it - can you deny that this is a great sorrow? Man's life has always been a muddle like this. How could I be the only muddled one, and other men not muddled?
~ Burton Watson translation ~

As a person grows older, you become more aware of "the end".  It's not somewhere out there; it's on the horizon. 

It's like driving across the plains of Kansas heading west.  At first, the Rocky Mountains look hazy and out-of-focus -- maybe it's a mirage.  After awhile, you can see some minimal definition.  Travel further and you begin to realize it's going to be quite a climb.

As you enter Colorado, the mountains swallow up the horizon. They predominate the skyline in front of you.  What looked before like distant hills now stand before you as mighty cathedrals.

And then, before you even realize it, you're there.  You and the mountains become one.

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