. One
remembereth not yesterday, and one doeth nothing ... in this hour.
Brothers are bad.... Faces disappear, and each hath a worse aspect than
that of his brother. Hearts are shameless, and the man upon whom one
leaneth hath no heart. There are no righteous men left, the earth is an
example of those who do evil. There is no true man left, and each is
ignorant of what he hath learnt. No man is content with what he hath; go
with the man [you believe to be contented], and he is not [to be found].
I am heavily laden with misery, and I have no true friend. Evil hath
smitten the land, and there is no end to it."

The state of the world being thus, the man who was tired of life is
driven to think that there is nothing left for him but death; it is
hopeless to expect the whole state of society to change for the better,
therefore death must be his deliverer. To his soul he says, "Death
standeth before me this day, [and is to me as] the restoration to health
of a man who hath been sick, and as the coming out into the fresh air
after sickness. Death standeth before me this day like the smell of
myrrh, and the sitting under the sail of a boat on a day with a fresh
breeze. Death standeth before me this day like the smell of lotus
flowers, and like one who is sitting on the bank of drunkenness.[1]
Death standeth before me this day like a brook filled with rain water,
and like the return of a man to his own house from the ship of war.
Death standeth before me this day like the brightening of the sky after
a storm, and like one.... Death standeth before me this day as a man who
wisheth to see his home once again, having passed many years as a
prisoner." The three rhythmical passages that follow show that the man
who was tired of life looked beyond death to a happier state of
existence, in which wrong would be righted, and he who had suffered on
this earth would be abundantly rewarded. The place where justice reigned
supreme was ruled over by Ra, and the man does not call it "heaven," but
merely "there."[2] He says, "He who is there shall indeed be like unto a
loving god, and he shall punish him that doeth wickedness. He who is
there shall certainly stand in the Boat of the Sun, and shall bestow
upon the temples the best [offerings]. He who is there shall indeed
become a man of understanding who cannot be resisted, and who prayeth to
Ra when he speaketh." The arguments in favour of death of the man who
was tired of life are superior t