The dividend of painPain is the great teacher. I woke before dawn with this thought. Joy, happiness, are what we take and do not question. They are beyond question, maybe. A matter of being. But pain forces us to think, and to make connections, to sort out what is what, to discover what has been happening to cause it. And, curiously enough, pain draws us to other human beings in a significant way, whereas joy or happiness to some extent, isolates. - May Sarton |
Our Wintering FoliageSomeday, at the end of the nightmare of knowing,
may I emerge singing praise and jubilation to assenting angels.
May I strike my heart's keys clearly, and may none fail
because of slack, uncertain, or fraying strings. May the tears that stream down my face
make me more radiant: may my hidden weeping
bloom. How I will cherish you then, you grief-torn nights!
Had I only received you, inconsolable sisters,
on more abject knees, only buried myself with more abandon
in your loosened hair. How we waste our afflictions! We study them, stare out beyond them into bleak continuance,
hoping to glimpse some end. Whereas they're really our
wintering foliage, our dark greens of meaning, one
of the seasons of the clandestine year - ; not only
a season - : they're site, settlement, shelter, soil, abode. From,"The Tenth Elegy",
Duino Elegies,
Rainer Maria Rilke
|
Welcome