War And Peace - Book Fifteen

When seeing a dying animal a man feels a sen­se of horror: substance similar to his own is peris­hing before his eyes. But when it is a beloved and intimate human being that is dying, besides this horror at the extinction of life there is a severan­ce, a spiritual wound, which like a physical wound is sometimes fatal and sometimes heals, but always aches and shrinks at any external irritating touch.