To die is not to die?

To die is not to die, my friends—it is to change.

While he lives burdened by his body here below,

Man towards his God but languidly doth go—

Forced his vile wants to feed no progress makes—

Moves with a tottering step—or truth forsakes.

But he who, verging on the end which he doth pray—

Sees glorious glimpses of the eternal day—

Like sunset rays ascending towards the skies.

An exile, thence, in God's own arms he lies.

And quaffing eagerly the nectar which doth rapture give—

That day on which he dies he first begins to live.

—Lamartine (Death of Socrates)