‘En Ma Fin Gît Mon Commencement’

‘En ma fin gît mon commencement’ is an expression that has often recurred across modern and contemporary cultural history. Famously attributed to Mary Stuart — who is said to have uttered it moments before her execution — it also forms the final line of the second poem in T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets, a collection of poems deeply engaged with the themes of time, memory, and spirituality. The phrase also serves as the Italian title of Agatha Christie’s novel Endless Night (1967). In all these cases, the statement suggests the possibility of a return to the beginning through a transformative process — signifying an end that opens the door to a new beginning, or a renewed awareness. In short, the conclusion of one story might simultaneously be the starting point of another.