Towards the end of the year, I think it might be great to reflect a little (or much) about my life. What could be best to describe your reflecting life than Rumi’s piece of poetry called ‘On the Deathbed’? It has been my favorite poem since I found the urge to re-evaluate my life. I had been extremely down lately since this ‘figuring out your life’ thing struck me. I have been thinking a lot about what I want to do in life and what I think I’m capable of doing and whether I will be able to deal with the consequences and so on that my head hurts. You know, like ‘two roads diverged in a (yellow) wood’[1] kind of situation.
Anyway, beside that I can really relate to ‘On the Deathbed’ poem. The poem itself is like a story, in a dramatic and motivational way. And another way to describe it is that it is beautiful, simply beautiful.
Just read it, and let your head wander to his world.
On the Deathbed
Go, rest your head on a pillow, leave me alone;
leave me ruined, exhausted from the journey of the night,
writhing in a wave of passion till the dawn.
Either stay and be forgiving,
or, if you like, be cruel and leave.
Flee from me, away from trouble;
take the path of safety, far from this danger.
We have crept into this corner of grief,
turning the water wheel with a flow of tears.
While a tyrant with a heart of flint slays,
And no one says, “Prepare to pay the blood money.”
Faith in the king comes easily in lovely times,
but be faithful now and endure, pale lover.
No cure exists for this pain but to die,
So why should I say, “Cure this pain”?
In a dream last night I saw
an ancient one in a garden of love,
beckoning with his hand, saying “Come here.”
On this path, Love is the emerald,
the beautiful green that wards off dragonsnough, I am losing myself.
If you are a man of learning,
read something classic,
a history of human struggle
and don’t settle for mediocre verse.
[1] Poem by John Frost, title: The Roads Not Taken
Out of Words 