Beautiful Death

We come to the cemetery in winter, the season when snow blankets the land like a funeral shroud. All of nature lies sleeping beneath the cold, bitter snow and yet there is a beauty and elegance to the stark white of the landscape. As we stroll along the cemetery path, gravel crunching beneath our feet, we come to a gorgeous and striking memorial cast in weathered bronze. The years have imbued the statue with rich green patina, bringing the statue's features and the folds of her flowing dress into greater relief. She stands, arms outspread, as if in invitation. Her beautiful features are inviting and serene, and there is a proud lift to her strong chin.
Here is death, portrayed as a beautiful woman. She may be a lover beckoning from beyond, or perhaps she is a young mother holding out her arms to provide a beloved child with a nurturing embrace. Many people in this day and age see death as something terrible, a mere specter that waits at the end of life to take all of our favorite things away. And yet, there is nothing grim or frightening in this statue. The woman here, who can be seen as a personification of death, is simple and regal.
Consider the romanticized ideal of death embodied by this statue. Can death be seen as a lover who steals us away to a better, more beautiful place? Is death less like a Grim Reaper who cuts us off from our lives and more like a loving mother who takes us in her arms to carry us gently away from the source of our distress? What mysteries might be revealed to us, if only we accepted the invitation implicit in this statue's stance, took those outstretched hands, and stepped into the world beyond?