Life and Death


Here I lie in coffin cold
My life a tale
No longer told

I feel no wind, no misty gale
The ground is dead
No room to sail

But now comes life back to my head
I have a goal
Words to be said

It has come back, my renewed soul
I break the crust
I reach the soil

Emerging shadow, a corpse full of dust
Rising from the grave
In a weary thrust

I hide no more in the shaded cave
I walk the night
The world my slave

Yet, seeing self in dim moonlight
I see young hands
Prepared for flight



The broad reversal of time's great sands
Has brought me back
To youth's lost lands

I feel great joy; I have no lack
No piles of worry
Upon my back

But times leaps back, my features blurry
Youth overtakes me
In such a hurry

Manhood leaves me, no beard do I see
The years fly by
My height to the knee

So this is death; here I lie
Returned to birth
Condemned to die

Life and Death are so different and YET so much alike!

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Surely we must talk about "Life" but "Death" too is important & in the teaching of the Buddha, all of us will pass away eventually as a part in the natural process of birth, old-age and death and that we should always keep in mind the impermanence of life. The life that we all cherish and wish to hold on.

To Buddhism, however, death is not the end of life, it is merely the end of the body we inhabit in this life, but our spirit will still remain and seek out through the need of attachment, attachment to a new body and new life. Where they will be born is a result of the past and the accumulation of positive and negative action, and the resultant karma (cause and effect) is a result of ones past actions.

I feel Death is always so close to me ( esp when I travel places and am alone ) Death has always reminded me the beauty & appreciation of "Life" and that's why Life and Death are so different and YET so much alike!

Peace

2 comments:

raymoej said...

I LOVE THIS POST so much i can't explain. That picture reminds me of the death character in Journey to Ixtlan by Carlos Casteneda: just watching waiting, interacting once in a while, and waiting for that final dance. Love it.

History® said...

Thank you & happy to be a part of Emergent Dharma: Young Buddhist Blog.