Laurus

by Eugene Vodolazkin

Why did he go off to die? Why did he not die with us, the ones who loved him? Christofer wiped Arseny’s tears with his scratchy touch. He kissed his forehead. It was his way of warning us that everyone remains alone with God at the final moment.

You want to say you are worse than herbs, asked the monk. Arseny raised his eyes to the monk. In a certain way I am worse, for the herb does not sin. But it does not sin because it has no consciousness, is that not so? said Ambrogio. Can this truly be a merit of the herb? It means one must consciously rid oneself of sins, shrugged the monk. And that’s all there is to it. One must be more like God, you know, not expound on things.

Our death will be so stupid, Ambrogio said to Arseny in a quiet voice. But what death is not stupid? asked Arseny. Is it not stupid that coarse iron enters the flesh, violating its perfection? He who is not capable of creating even a fingernail on a little finger is destroying a most complex mechanism, something inaccessible to human comprehension.

Tables with refreshments have been set up on the village square. Around the tables stand stools with boards on them. On the boards are bedspreads. Everyone is in an elated mood at seeing the bountiful table. Everyone is happy for the young couple. Grandfather Luigi rolls a cigarette, takes it between his two fingers, and inhales. Hardened calluses prevent his fingers from bending. His face looks like pumice. He says he has never seen such a sumptuous wedding. His words come out with the smoke and seem steeped in antiquity.

Dual meaning of sumptuous in-context. He means the wedding is expensive and luxurious, but it also just comes after Francisca's vision of her ancestor's beheading while trying to reach Jerusalem to pray, meaning that the medieval word meaning of something being produced at a great cost is also true. I thought that was clever.

They forgot about him during this difficult time, not with the harsh oblivion of the ill-intentioned but with the forced oblivion of the afflicted.