I have lived for far too long. Having to watch civilizations rise and fall has made my view of time change. Watching as generation after generation make the same mistakes as their predecessors. Not adapting to their ancestors anguish in the slightest. Each fresh batch of humans just trying to survive their own greed, lust, and lies. Time is an endless cage that has locked me into a continuous cycle. A cycle of watching the ones who had the misfortune of loving me perish over and over again. Ninety nine funerals, this is the ninety ninth funeral that I've had to attend of someone who loved me. He loved me limitlessly, endlessly, and quite literally to death. The death of ninety nine lovers has stained my soul. "Death is not the greatest loss" a wise man once said. He then followed by saying "The greatest loss is what dies inside us of while we live". That wise man's name is Norman Cousins. He wrote that line specifically for me, I am convinced. For I have faced ninety nine deaths in this lifetime. -I.V