Is Gabriel Garcia Marquez Dying?

I got this from the mail today. Hope it's not another hoax. I figure that if he's really on the verge, then he must be writing poetry instead. Oh, that's Pablo Neruda.

When Gabriel Garcia Marquez retired from public life due to cancer of the
lymph nodes, he sent a farewell letter to his friends, and thanks to the
Internet, it is spreading. I recommend that you read it. This short text,
written by one of the most brilliant Latin American writers in recent times,
is truly moving.

"If for an instant God were to forget that I am a rag doll and gifted
me with a piece of life, possibly I wouldn't say all that I think, but
rather I would think of all that I say. I would value things, not for
their worth but for what they mean. I would sleep little, dream more,
understanding that for each minute we close our eyes we lose sixty
seconds of light. I would walk when others hold back, I would wake
when others sleep. I would listen when others talk, and how I would
enjoy a good chocolate ice cream!

If God were to give me a piece of life, I would dress simply, throw
myself face first into the sun, baring not only my body but also my
soul.

My God, if I had a heart, I would write my hate on ice, and wait for
the sun to show. Over the stars I would paint with a Van Gogh, dream a
Benedetti poem, and a Serrat song would be the serenade I'd offer to
the moon. With my tears I would water roses, to feel the pain of
their thorns, and the red kiss of their petals...

My God, if I had a piece of life... I wouldn't let a single day pass
without telling the people I love that I love them. I would convince
each woman and each man that they are my favorites, and I would live
in love with love. I would show men how very wrong they are to think
that they cease to be in love when they grow old, not knowing that
they grow old when they cease to be in love! To a child I shall give
wings, but I shall let him learn to fly on his own. I would teach the
old that death does not come with old age, but with forgetting. So
much have I learned from you, oh men...

I have learned that everyone wants to live on the peak of the
mountain, without knowing that real happiness is in how it is scaled.

I have learned that when a newborn child squeezes for the first time
with his tiny fist his father's finger, he has him trapped forever. I
have learned that a man has the right to look down on another only
when he has to help the other get to his feet. From you I have
learned so many things, but in truth they won't be of much use, for
when I keep them within this suitcase, unhappily shall I be dying."

GABRIEL GARCIA MARQUEZ