in the face of death ...

[Guest guest]

THE SONG OF VICTORY

 

When on the day of my death you carry my bier,

Do not imagine my heart has remained in this world,

Do not weep over me, do not say, "How sad, how sad!"

That would be tumbling into the Devil's trap, and that would be sad.

When you see my corpse laid out, don't cry out, "He has gone,"

For union and meeting will be mine then forever.

As you lower me into my tomb, do not say, "Farewell,"

For the tomb veils from us the union of paradise.

My decline you have seen, now discover my soaring ascent.

Can setting cause any harm to the sun or moon?

To you, my death seems like a setting, but really it is dawn.

 

Does the tomb seem a prison to you? It is the liberation of the soul.

Has any seed been sown in the earth that has not one day flowered?

Why doubt? Man is also a buried seed.

What bucket would go down empty without being filled?

The spirit is like Joseph, would he complain of the well?

Keep your mouth closed over here, to open it over there

So that beyond space may thrill your song of victory.

 

Rumi (Sufi poet)