On Death

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 youseek it in the heart of life?

The owl whose night-bound eyes are blindunto the day cannot unveil the mysteryof light.

If you would indeed behold the spiritof death, open your heart wide unto thebody of life.

For life and death are one, even as theriver and the sea are one.

In the depth of your hopes and desireslies your silent knowledge of thebeyond;

And like seeds dreaming beneath the snowyour heart dreams of spring.

Trust the dreams, for in them is hiddenthe gate to eternity.

Your fear of death is but the trembling of theshepherd when he stands before the kingwhose hand is to be laid upon him inhonour.

Is the shepherd not joyful beneath histrembling, that he shall wear the markof the king?

Yet is he not more mindful of histrembling?

For what is it to die but to stand nakedin the wind and to melt into the sun?

And what is it to cease breathing, butto free the breath from its restlesstides, that it may rise and expand andseek God unencumbered?

Only when you drink from the river ofsilence shall you indeed sing.

And when you have reached the mountaintop, then you shall begin to climb.

And when the earth shall claim yourlimbs, then shall you truly dance.