"memento mori"

This is a Latin phrase used in spiritual practices, including Freemasonry,  as a reminder of mortality and the transitory nature of earthly pleasures or to honor revered ancestors.

There are rabbits all over our neighborhood. They live, procreate, feed and die generally without notice.  We have no idea whether they contemplate the end of their existence.  

Recently, I saw a rabbit who died attempting to leave a fenced area. Likely she was searching there for tasty leaves of a dogwood shrub. She entered the pen but couldn't escape. The front of the body emerged, but one rear leg caught in an adjacent hole and denied her of the ability to push through. I found her too late for a rescue.  She desired the means to live, but unexpectedly found life's end.

I released the entangled leg and removed the body from the fence. Then I considered an appropriate response. "From dust to dust - from soil to soil" I though. So I took the body to a deserted part of our wetland buffer, dug a hole and buried it there, covered with a tangle of blackberry vines (hoping she would remain undisturbed).

We regularly see an infant bunny  scampering through the flower beds next to our house. We have seen Baby Bunny retreat to a thick patch of weeds that overgrew part of an unused part a flower bed. We leave that patch undisturbed.

We see no sign of adult supervision or assistance. Baby Bunny is entirely on his own.  When he sees me he freezes. If I approach he scampers back to his nest.

Baby Bunny seems focused on survival, feeding and avoiding perilous contact.  But perhaps, he has an awareness of a rabbit's brief existence?

Does his caution indicate he is aware of potential demise? Is this a way to consider the imminence of death and to make the most of life? Does instinct imbue such knowledge? Or is he as caught up in "living" as humans, distracting themselves from meaning?

I've read that the life of a rabbit is short, often a year or so.  Since I moved to this wild land, I have seen a half dozen rabbits of varying maturities. And I have happened on half as many who have met their end.  They, as well as we,  may "memento mori", living with thankfulness for the day,  attempting to make worthwhile choices

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