THEN Almitra spoke, saying, We would ask now of
Death.
And he said:
You would know the secret of death.
But
how shall you find it unless you seek it in the heart of life?
The owl
whose night-bound eyes are blind unto the day cannot unveil the mystery of
light.
If you would indeed behold the spirit of death, open your heart
wide unto the body of life.
For life and death are one, even as
the river and the sea are one.
In the depth of your hopes and
desires lies your silent knowledge of the beyond;
And like seeds
dreaming beneath the snow your heart dreams of spring.
Trust the
dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity.
Your fear of death
is but the trembling of the shepherd when he stands before the
king whose
hand is to be laid upon him in honour.
Is the shepherd not joyful
beneath his trembling, that he shall wear the mark of
the king?
Yet
is he not more mindful of his trembling?
For what is it to die but
to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun?
And what is to
cease breathing, but to free the breath from its restless tides, that
it
may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered?
Only when you drink
from the river of silence shall you indeed sing.
And when you have
reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb.
And when
the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance.
-excerpt from The Prophet, by Kahlil Gibran
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