just as there is laughter in pain
remember that birth stems from death
and that each birth is a blessing,
each transformation a miracle
remember that when each tree dies
a new acorn has already been planted
and will soon begin to sprout through to the Sun
remember that we harvest
the tears as well as the laughter,
the pain along with the joy
remember that in the end we harvest more, sometimes,
from our supposed losses
than we do from what we once thought gains
remember that each person in your life
sings their own unique song
and that the song lives on
after the spirit has left this existence
(you can hear it in the wind, sometimes
if you learn to listen hard enough)
and remember that our lives on this plane
are like flames
each flame flickers in its cycles
(as the years burn the wax lower and lower)
and is extinguished in the end
yet our spirits are eternal flames
that sustain their glow, their energy, their vibrancy
through the most disheartening of storms
and the most muting, mutating of transformations
and so we beat on
through whatever this life throws our way
humble enough to know our weaknesses,
but not so humble that we forget our strengths,
and as inextinguishable as the eternal flames we are,
our true spirits as warm and comforting
as a beacon of candlelight
when we thought we were lost in the woods.
Ashley Ravenwood, copyright 7/22/95
