For Wilder, human life is fragile, and is often ended by the capricious whim of fate. All of humanity, in a sense, dangles above the gorge of the San Luis river. Our life can be cut short at a moments notice, for no apparent reason. God, in Wilder's vision, is absent from the universe. Good befalls the evil just as evil befalls the good.
Death is an empty phenomenon.
There is no resurrection of the body and life everlasting to justify the premature termination of one's existence. Death is meaningful if life is lived well in the here and now. There is no other worldly transformation to give meaning to life. The only meaning we can hope to derive from our earthly existence results from the acts of love we share with other people. Life, not death, possesses meaning.