The Life of Death
In awe of both life and death
Contemplating creation
and despairing destruction
As we come face to face
with the transition between them
We experience
A cacophonous colliding of worlds
As the death of life
Begins the life of death
Maternity wards and morgues
For grandmothers, mothers, and us
Our parents and our parents’ parents
Their children and their children’s children
The blessing and the passing
Celebrating life while mourning death
Like refugees from reason, from rationality, from Nature, and from each other
We straddle emotional states
Ill at ease with ourselves
While alienated from others
Unable to adequately translate our experience
As the Talmud and Quran remind us
The end of a life is the destruction of a world
Even as it continues
The great cosmic cycle of Being
As the Bhagavad Gita reminds us
We cry, we pause, we grieve, we wonder
Ultimately we remember and celebrate
For love is always stronger than death
May all our memories be for many blessings
About The Author
Dan Brook, PhD teaches in the Department of Sociology and Interdisciplinary Social Sciences at San Jose State University in Silicon Valley, from where he organizes the annual Hands on Thailand (HoT) program.
1 Comments
Superficial
ReplyDelete“We all need people who will give us feedback. That’s how we improve.”– Bill Gates