It's been more than a year since I last posted
anything in this blog and there are all sorts of reasons for this, the main one
being sheer indolence and procrastination on my part and perhaps a feeling
that I don't have anything worth saying. Well, I may still not have much to say
but nonetheless it is time to revive this blog before another year goes by and
before it is beyond resuscitation! So here goes...
"Do not stand at my grave and weep
I
am not there. I do not sleep.
I
am a thousand winds that blow.
I
am the diamond glints on snow.
I
am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I
am the gentle autumn rain.
When
you awaken in the morning's hush
I
am the swift uplifting rush
Of
quiet birds in circled flight.
I
am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do
not stand at my grave and cry;
I
am not there. I did not die."
By Mary Elizabeth Frye
I came across this beautiful but poignant poem many years ago and was myself not a little moved by its stark yet selfless message. Over the years, as I read it to myself from time to time, it has taken on an ever growing significance. Now I read it and feel I could have written it myself, so much does it echo my own thoughts and feelings. Some day it may be my own epitaph and, as such, I am indebted to the author for penning it.
With the passage of the years and the approach of 'old' age, let us say, so many things take on a different hue and look and feel different in the light of one's accumulated experiences and learnt lessons. One feels safer in the past than the future, and the present is seen to go by too swiftly. The past is the familiar, both people and things, and it takes on ever-greater importance whilst the future is downgraded or shunned altogether.
I personally have become more spiritual, more contemplative, more solemn in some ways, though I always was a deep thinker, constantly mulling things over in my head and looking for a deeper meaning in things and events. Sometimes I even come close to a sort of religiosity that I 'religiously' avoided in the past. Does increasing age bring us closer to God or at least to some kind of godless piety? Perhaps. The need for an all-powerful protector certainly becomes more pressing in many people and the consolation that such protection affords is invaluable. So...
With the passage of the years and the approach of 'old' age, let us say, so many things take on a different hue and look and feel different in the light of one's accumulated experiences and learnt lessons. One feels safer in the past than the future, and the present is seen to go by too swiftly. The past is the familiar, both people and things, and it takes on ever-greater importance whilst the future is downgraded or shunned altogether.
I personally have become more spiritual, more contemplative, more solemn in some ways, though I always was a deep thinker, constantly mulling things over in my head and looking for a deeper meaning in things and events. Sometimes I even come close to a sort of religiosity that I 'religiously' avoided in the past. Does increasing age bring us closer to God or at least to some kind of godless piety? Perhaps. The need for an all-powerful protector certainly becomes more pressing in many people and the consolation that such protection affords is invaluable. So...
"Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there, I do not sleep."
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