The Best Poem I've Ever Read

I know, I know, two posts in one day... absolute insanity. But that last post left me feeling a little down, so I decided that I would go and read something to cheer me up. And nothing makes me more certain that life is good and joyful and worth every second despite the little troubles than the following poem. A good explanation for what it is can be found here, in an old post from Daylight Atheism, my first and favorite atheism-themed blog. What follows is only an excerpt of translated verses from the full poem, but it is truly one of the most beautiful things I've ever read, and it expresses my worldview far better than anything I could ever say on my own.

From The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

The bird of life is singing on the bough
His two eternal notes of "I and Thou"—
O! hearken well, for soon the song sings through,
And, would we hear it, we must hear it now.

The bird of life is singing in the sun,
Short is his song, nor only just begun,—
A call, a trill, a rapture, then—so soon!—
A silence, and the song is done—is done.

Yea! What is man that deems himself divine?
Man is a flagon, and his soul the wine;
Man is a reed, his soul the sound therein;
Man is a lantern, and his soul the shine.

Would you be happy! hearken, then, the way:
Heed not To-morrow, heed not Yesterday;
The magic words of life are Here and Now—
O fools, that after some to-morrow stray!

Were I a Sultan, say what greater bliss
Were mine to summon to my side than this,—
Dear gleaming face, far brighter than the moon!
O Love! and this immortalizing kiss.

To all of us the thought of heaven is dear—
Why not be sure of it and make it here?
No doubt there is a heaven yonder too,
But 'tis so far away—and you are near.

Men talk of heaven,—there is no heaven but here;
Men talk of hell,—there is no hell but here;
Men of hereafters talk, and future lives,—
O love, there is no other life—but here.

Look not above, there is no answer there;
Pray not, for no one listens to your prayer;
Near is as near to God as any Far,
And Here is just the same deceit as There.

But here are wine and beautiful young girls,
Be wise and hide your sorrows in their curls,
Dive as you will in life's mysterious sea,
You shall not bring us any better pearls.

Allah, perchance, the secret word might spell;
If Allah be, He keeps His secret well;
What He hath hidden, who shall hope to find?
Shall God His secret to a maggot tell?

So since with all my passion and my skill,
The world's mysterious meaning mocks me still,
Shall I not piously believe that I
Am kept in darkness by the heavenly will?

The Koran! well, come put me to the test—
Lovely old book in hideous error drest—
Believe me, I can quote the Koran too,
The unbeliever knows his Koran best.

And do you think that unto such as you,
A maggot-minded, starved, fanatic crew,
God gave the Secret, and denied it me?—
Well, well, what matters it! believe that too.

Old Khayyám, say you, is a debauchee;
If only you were half so good as he!
He sins no sins but gentle drunkenness,
Great-hearted mirth, and kind adultery.

But yours the cold heart, and the murderous tongue,
The wintry soul that hates to hear a song,
The close-shut fist, the mean and measuring eye,
And all the little poisoned ways of wrong.

So I be written in the Book of Love,
I have no care about that book above;
Erase my name, or write it, as you please—
So I be written in the Book of Love.

Honesty Isn't Always Easy

The Honest Scrap award is given by other bloggers who consider a blog’s content or design to be brilliant. The awardees must then post ten honest things about
themselves and pass the award on to other bloggers who fit the bill – in other words, whose blog is brilliant.”




Okay, so I know that getting this award from a friend is nothing more than a poorly disguised attempt to get me to post here again *grin*, but since I have been meaning to anyway, I figure - what the heck - might as well take the opportunity. I don't usually do things like this, but I have been realizing lately that the person that I know I am may not be the person that other people see me as (I am planning a rather lengthy post on the subject soon), so posting ten honest things about myself is probably a good way to start helping people understand the real me: the way my mind works, why I do and say the things I do, and that the things going through my head probably aren't that different from the things going through anyone else's head. So, anyway... here goes...

• I am in the process of working on a truly epic work of fiction that I think is absolutely the best writing I have ever done, but I don't think anyone else will ever read it. I made the mistake of posting a short draft version of it online several months ago, and the ensuing criticism and lack of interest from everyone I told about it was such a blow to my self-esteem that I would have given up on the whole thing right there if the story hadn't been consuming my every creative thought at the time. I know that I probably took the whole thing too seriously, but I have a really hard time accepting criticism or lack of interest in my accomplishments from people because I don't think I am as good at anything as others seem to think I am, and that belief needs very little outside reinforcement.


• The hardest thing about hanging out with my friends is that I know I will never be as close to any of them as they are to each other.


• Realizing that I was an atheist has made me a much happier person...


• But on the downside, I am absolutely terrified of my dad finding out. We had a major falling-out several years ago when I moved in with my husband before we got married, and it took a long time for our relationship to recover. My hope would be that he'd accept me and that it wouldn't change anything, but I don't want to risk what I just got back on that hope.


• Sometimes I get disappointed and frustrated with myself because I know I could be doing and accomplishing so much more with my life, but I enjoy just taking it easy. I have so many nebulous plans for the future, but I feel like I lack the ambition to actually accomplish anything.


• Through a number of situations and events I don't know if I could have prevented, I have managed to drive away every girl I was every really close friends with. I still have friends who are girls, but I don't really feel close enough to confide in them any more. Sometimes I miss that.
  


• I am a horrible procrastinator. Always have been. For some reason, no one ever believes me when I tell them that.


• My greatest fear at the moment is that I will never feel grown-up and mature enough to have children.


• No single activity gives me more joy than singing, but I am usually too self-conscious to do it when anyone else is around. I love games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero because they give me an excuse to sing in front of other people without feeling the least bit self-conscious.


• And, last but not least... I write this blog because it gives me a way of expressing myself that I find hard to do in person. I have so many thoughts and feelings and opinions about things, but I have a really hard time expressing myself verbally, so I write it instead. That is why I want everyone to read what I write... because I am writing the things that I can't say out loud, because my brain just doesn't work fast enough to have coherent conversations about stuff that really interests me. I will be going more in-depth on this in a future post.

So there you have it. Ten honest things about me. Some good, some bad, some that may be hard for others to hear, but all things that I feel are worth people knowing about me. I have no one to tag in order to pass on this award, so instead, I will just invite anyone who doesn't have a blog to stop and consider: What ten things would you tell others about yourself if you wanted them to understand you better?