~Pain~

Your pain
is the breaking
of the shell
that encloses
your understanding.

Even as the stone
of the fruit
must break,
that its heart
may stand
in the sun,
so must you
know pain.

And could you keep
your heart
in wonder
at the daily miracles
of your life,
your pain
would not seem
less wondrous
than your joy.

And you would accept
the seasons
of your heart,
even as
you have always
accepted
the seasons
that pass
over your fields

And you would watch
with serenity
through the winters
of your grief

Much of your pain
is self chosen
It is the bitter potion
by which the physician
within you
heals your sick self

Therefore trust 
the physician,
and drink
his remedy
in silence
and tranquility.

For his hand,
though heavy
and hard,
is guided by
the tender hand
of the Unseen.

And the cup he brings,
though it burn
your lips,
has been fashioned
of the clay
which the Potter
has moistened
with his own
Sacred Tears.

Kahlil Gibran - The Prophet

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~We shall be known by the tracks we leave behind ~