Our life has not been an ascent
up one side of a mountain and down the other.
We did not reach a peak,
only to decline and die.
We have been as drops of water,
born in the ocean and sprinkled on the earth
in a gentle rain.
We became a spring,
and then a stream,
and finally a river flowing deeper and stronger,
nourishing all it touches
as it nears its home once again.
*
Don't accept the modern myths of aging.
You are not declining.
You are not fading away into uselessness.
You are a sage,
a river at its deepest
and most nourishing.
Sit by a river bank some time
and watch attentively as the river
tells you of your life.
"We Are a River," from The Sage's Tao Te Ching: Ancient Advice for the Second Half of Life, William Martin's free-verse interpretation of the classic work by Lao Tzu (The Experiment, 2010).Art credit: Untitled photograph from Autumn River, a series by Philip Brittan in which he "submerges himself and his camera in the currents of Bristol’s River Frome, capturing the movements of fallen leaves." See more of his remarkable series here.
This lovely poem reminds me of Rabindranath Tagore's poem "The Stream of Life."
ReplyDeleteHello Phyllis and her loyal readers,
ReplyDeleteI love this poem, and I wanted to use it in a book that I am contracted to write on using poetry to increase resilience in the face of grief. I imagined it in the last section of the book as an invitation to grief groups who will use the book to discuss how to carry grief...you don't really get over it, but you learn to carry it. It is not clear that I will be able to get permission from the publisher, and with your vast knowledge of poems, and being a kindred spirit in terms of vetting poems that are great discussion starters but still accessible to many readers, I wondered if you would have a suggestion for another poem that develops similar themes. I was especially eager to use this poem because of these lines:
Don't accept the modern myths of aging.
You are not declining.
You are not fading away into uselessness.
You are a sage,
a river at its deepest
and most nourishing.
I have looked and looked, and now I turn to you in case you have a quick idea. Thanks for your mindful poetry project, which was an inspiration and nourishment for much of my thinking about my grief book.
Warm Regards, Kim
Kim, I very much appreciate your question. Getting permissions is tough work, but if this is a poem you really want, I'd encourage you to keep at it. As for "quick ideas" on another poem, I'd encourage you to try using the search function on the website. You have your own needs and tastes and you would probably have more luck sifting through poems than if I start tossing out titles. I wish you all the best with your project! Be well.
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