On March 31, 1977, a play opened on Broadway title, “The Shadow Box.” It was written by Michael Cristofer.
That year it won the Tony Award for best play and the Pulitzer Prize for drama.
The play focuses on three terminally ill patients in a hospice.
One of the most touching moments of the play is when one of the characters says . . .
Your whole life goes by and it feels like only a minute.
You try to remember what it was you believed in.
What was so important?
What was it?
You wanted to make a difference.
And then you think, someone should have said it sooner. Someone should have said it a long time ago.
When we were young, someone should have said, “This living. This life.
This lifetime doesn’t last forever. A few days. A few minutes, that’s all.”
This face.
These hands.
This world.
It doesn’t last forever.
This air.
This light.
This earth.
These things you love.
These children.
This smile.
This pain.
It doesn’t last forever.
It was never supposed to last forever.
These things you have.
This moment.
They will not last forever.
