One does not discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of shore for a very long time.
—Andre Gide
What keeps me alive is found between the images, between the words, between thought, the emptiness of feeling, and in the emptiness of the body...there arises the fullness and significance of life...
—Basarab Nicolescu
Life's Greatest Gift
I have received so many gifts,
appearing as presents from you.
The still, shadowy, vapor filled clouds
you always loved to watch—
Their hearts are now fragments of your soul.
The songs of the ocean, gull and red tail,
each contains your warm voice.
The rock you loved to hold,
now embraces you between
its seven distinct layers.
Within this breath—
O’ this sweet touch of air,
That rushes in, to fill me with life—
Is the greatest gift of all.
It is you, alive, inside of me.
Photo Credit: Eternal Joy, SEPhillips, Chinese Caligraphy, Brush and Ink, 1999.