Sand and Foam

I AM FOREVER walking upon these shores,
Betwixt the sand and the foam,
The high tide will erase my foot-prints,
And the wind will blow away the foam.
But the sea and the shore will remain
Forever.

Become a child again -
Cast a stone into the sea and
watch the waves propagate:
Grab a small stone first and take note of what it leaves behind: little waves, little splashes, little time to dampen.
Now find a large one and let it leave your hand and greet the sea.
The splash is deeper, the wave is higher and the distance it travels is longer.
Do you see?
Know that you are the stone.
When you cast yourself into the sea of being what will remain in your wake?
What will form as result of your greeting the ocean with endless shores?

Remembrance is a form of meeting.
Forgetfulness is a form of freedom.

I sometimes remember things I’d like to forget;
And I have forgotten many things I’d like to remember.
The chapterhouse of my mind is therefore maelstrom:
All the meetings halls are in disarray or are occupied.
What grants me freedom also shackles me.
Yet, there is a locked room where sacred space remains unscathed:
The doorway to the cathedral, the heart.

Meet me at the threshold.
I cannot enter without you:
You have the key.

Some of us are like ink and some like paper.
And if it were not for the blackness of some of us, some of us would be dumb;
And if it were not for the whiteness of some of us, some of us would be blind.

I am as ink – dark, tenebrous:
I am what the scholars and scribes use to write their treatises;
I am what cradles the infant in the mother’s womb;
I am where the lovers embrace;
I am what soothes the eyes for slumber;
I am what brings the rain, the tempest, the lightning – for fear and hope;
I am the ether containing the celestial bodies;
I am the most of everything.

You are as paper – bright, illuminating:
You are what the scholars and scribes write their treatises on;
You are what awaits the infant when it is birthed;
You are where the lovers support one another will toil;
You are what awakens the eyes from slumber;
You are what brings the flower from the earth;
You are the life-giving fire for the celestial bodies;
You are the least of the nothing.

Some people are like clouds: when they disappear, it’s a brighter day.
Some people are like the sun: when it is covered, the burning stops and the cool rain comes.

Without me, you cannot be.
But without you, I cannot be.
So we need each other.
Let’s be friends then and walk side by side along the shore.

The reality of the other person is not in what he reveals to you, but in what he cannot reveal to you.
Therefore, if you would understand him, listen not to what he says but rather to what he does not say.

Half of what I say is meaningless; but I say it so that the other half may reach you.

The greatest lesson is the one of humility -
The next is the one of silence:
Gautama found this under the pipal tree.
Moses grasp it on the summit of Sinai;
Jesus, while wondering the desert;
Muḥammad: in the Cave of Light.
The loved ones embrace in silence and solitude – that is where they truly find each other.

When the world speaks, she tells beautiful lies;
But when world is silent and still and sleeping, the firmament can relay her wisdom through her envoys:
the stars.

A sense of humor is a sense of proportion.

A smile is charity;
A frown is a tax:
And who among us likes to be taxed, though it be necessary?
Would it not then be better to give freely?

Many a doctrine is like a window pane. We see truth through it but it divides us from truth.

Seventy-two sects will all be in the Hellfire and only one will be saved.
Are you so sure the one which you profess to belong to will be the saved one?

Words are timeless. You should write them or utter them with a knowledge of their timelessness.

Words are etched into the canvas of eternity -
They reach the Lord of the Seven Heavens, Who never forgets, never sleeps.
Every utterance is either a blessing or an indictment: a sliver of Paradise or an ember of Hellfire.
As to which, the choice is yours to make.

When the woman cries to her Lord in heartbreak, every teardrop reaches Him.
When the oppressed wail in sorrow and anguish, they draw near to Him as if whispering in His Ear.

We have two ears, two eyes, two hands, two feet, and one mouth for a reason.
The feeblest dog barks the most.
Anyone who envies the talkative is therefore a fool in the making.

Bask in finite infinity, if only for a moment.
And when you do speak, let words come from your mouth measured and purposed,
So as to give each letter its proper due, each word rolling smoothing of your tongue like cascading pearls.
Let them curve into eternity something beautiful, something which can change worlds.
Take them to your Lord with a humility when ascend to meet Him as you are destined you.
You will find them waiting to testify on your behalf.

Hate is a dead thing. Who of you would be a tomb?

Do you want to consume the flesh of your dead brother, your dead sister?
No?
Then why do you backbite, gossip, malign with your tongue?

Have you room in your home for a decaying carcass?
Do you long to smell the scent of mustard-gas and roses in your bedroom?
No?
Then how is it you make room for hate in your heart?
The latter is more sacrosanct than the former:
Better a corpse in your house than wrath in your heart.

Every thought I have imprisoned in expression I must free by my deeds.

I AM held captive in what I have written:
the ransom is action.
The lovers of wisdom must lead by example;
otherwise, they are hypocrites.
I hold in my the keys to my own cell, but Allāh is the warden.
I may leave only with His sanction.

The single grain of sand will one day dissolves into the infinite sea, caught by the tide.
May what I accomplish in this life speak for me so that I may remain silent.
My voice will not be heard over the waves crashing onto the shore.

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Tagged: Jesus, Kahlil Gibran, Moses, Sand and Foam

Posted in: Poetry, Spirituality