The crowning sonnet anticipated the ultimate farewell and assumed the tone of a poised and solemn valediction. But it also contained a fond invitation. From Francis to me. We have loved each other for many years. According to the poem, we are growing old and do not have long to live, and what’s most important for us now is to wander together through our home, this earth, and, before we part forever, remind ourselves of the beauty and delight of living things and how deeply we are bound to them. The poet called up the ghost of Darwin – ‘There is grandeur in this view of life’. In our physical
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