Deliquescent

I discovered a brilliant word this morning.
deliquesce (intr. v) 
a. To melt away
b. To disappear as if by melting

Then I discovered this quote from inasentence.org:
We are fleeting shadows; we deliquesce like ice; and there is only time, in the narrow span of hours between birth and death, to stand, to walk — to fly.

I quite like that random quote. I like the imagery and contrast and the use of semi-colons, but most of all I appreciate the embedded truth: we are indeed fleeting shadows. After all, what does the Bible say?

"All flesh is grass,
And all its loveliness is like the flower of the field.
The grass withers, the flower fades,
Because the breath of the Lord blows upon it;
Surely the people are grass.
The grass withers, the flower fades,
But the word of our God stands forever." Isaiah 40:7-8

"Whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.'" James 4:14

"When, with rebukes, You correct man for iniquity,
You make his beauty melt away like a moth;
Surely every man is vapour. Selah." Psalm 39:11

"We all fade as a leaf,
And our iniquities, like the wind,
Have taken us away." Isaiah 64:6 (My sister told me about this verse! She is ~and I quote~ esurient for new vocabulary! Aye, me too ;)

"deliquesce" ~ A striking word indeed! (quoting my sister once again)