Is it that the nights pass by us
And destiny treads us underfoot?
Is it thus the ages engulf us and remember us not, sure as a name upon a page writ in water in place of ink?
Is this life to be extinguished
And this love to vanish
And these hopes to fade?
Shall death destroy that which we build,
And the winds scatter our words
And darkness hide our deeds?
Is this then life?
A past that has gone and left no trace,
A present, pursuing the past?
Or a future, without meaning, save when it is present and past?
Shall all that is joy in our hearts
And all that saddens our spirit
Vanish ere we know their fruits?
Shall man be as the foam
That sits an instant on the ocean's face
And is taken by the passing breeze
And is no more?
No, in truth, for the verity of life is life;
Life whose birth is not in the womb
Nor its end in death.
What are these years if not an instant in Eternity?
~excerpt from A Tear and a Smile by Kahlil Gibran
Six months ago I would have read these lines and assigned them different meaning than I do now. The images "foam" and "death" would have tantalized; and the symbolic birth "not in the womb" would have puzzled; and "Eternity" would have taken its meaning from the span of years, rather than they from it.And destiny treads us underfoot?
Is it thus the ages engulf us and remember us not, sure as a name upon a page writ in water in place of ink?
Is this life to be extinguished
And this love to vanish
And these hopes to fade?
Shall death destroy that which we build,
And the winds scatter our words
And darkness hide our deeds?
Is this then life?
A past that has gone and left no trace,
A present, pursuing the past?
Or a future, without meaning, save when it is present and past?
Shall all that is joy in our hearts
And all that saddens our spirit
Vanish ere we know their fruits?
Shall man be as the foam
That sits an instant on the ocean's face
And is taken by the passing breeze
And is no more?
No, in truth, for the verity of life is life;
Life whose birth is not in the womb
Nor its end in death.
What are these years if not an instant in Eternity?
~excerpt from A Tear and a Smile by Kahlil Gibran
Now I have become the foam, one with the ocean depths from which it springs and of which it is a part.
And all that has really changed in the interim is my perspective.
I think in 6 months I have gone from being a theist to actually finding religion.
