| 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 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. |