C.Y. FRANKEL

Late one September Friday night I was born into existence and, one day in the future, I will die. I don’t know what comes next but surely it will be the most important and transformative event of my life.

This is my memento mori; a reminder of the ephemeral nature of life and the vanity of worldly pleasures. The fly is associated with sin, decay, and the passage of time. In the Talmud it is a symbol for the evil inclination “that dwells between the two entrances of the heart” (Berachot 61a), whilst as personified in the form of Beelzebub or Ba'al Zevuv, the Biblical Canaanite god and Lord of the Flies, it becomes a demon of high rank, "than whom, Satan except, none higher sat." (Milton, Paradise Lost).

Most of all, the fly is transient, here and then no longer, like a moment in time, resting just long enough to be noticed before it’s gone.