Of 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 springs.

• 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 it 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.

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