Love

Then said Almitra, "Speak to us of Love." And he raised his head and looked upon the people, and there fell a stillness upon them. And with a great voice he said: When love beckons to you follow him, Though his ways are hard and steep. And when his wings enfold you yield to him, Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you. And when he speaks to you believe in him, Though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden. For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning. Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun, So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth. Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself. He threshes you to make you naked. He sifts you to free you from your husks. He grinds you to whiteness. He kneads you until you are pliant; And then he assigns you to his sacred fire, that you may become sacred bread for God's sacred feast. All these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart, and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life's heart. But if in your fear you would seek only love's peace and love's pleasure, Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love's threshing-floor, Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears. Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself. Love possesses not nor would it be possessed; For love is sufficient unto love. When you love you should not say, "God is in my heart," but rather, I am in the heart of God." And think not you can direct the course of love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course. Love has no other desire but to fulfil itself. But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires: To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night. To know the pain of too much tenderness. To be wounded by your own understanding of love; And to bleed willingly and joyfully. To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving; To rest at the noon hour and meditate love's ecstasy; To return home at eventide with gratitude; And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips.

Friendships

And a youth said, "Speak to us of Friendship." Your friend is your needs answered. He is your field which you sow with love and reap with thanksgiving. And he is your board and your fireside. For you come to him with your hunger, and you seek him for peace. When your friend speaks his mind you fear not the "nay" in your own mind, nor do you withhold the "ay." And when he is silent your heart ceases not to listen to his heart; For without words, in friendship, all thoughts, all desires, all expectations are born and shared, with joy that is unacclaimed. When you part from your friend, you grieve not; For that which you love most in him may be clearer in his absence, as the mountain to the climber is clearer from the plain. And let there be no purpose in friendship save the deepening of the spirit. For love that seeks aught but the disclosure of its own mystery is not love but a net cast forth: and only the unprofitable is caught. And let your best be for your friend. If he must know the ebb of your tide, let him know its flood also. For what is your friend that you should seek him with hours to kill? Seek him always with hours to live. For it is his to fill your need, but not your emptiness. And in the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures. For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed.

New Beginning

In the sphere of darkness, with the flow of fresh air on the carpet of an empty road surrounded by the green belt of trees tuned in the music of rustling leaves busy in hide and seek with the goddess of air, under the sprinkles stars the road was drummed with the sounds of steps. The sounds were patterened in an order of perplexity with the flute of echoing insects. The road wasn't naive to the beats of steps. The yellow belt on the side of the road were the mark line of the steps. The tranquility of the path was disturbed with the shrieking rustles of the paper which were in the hands of the person who at that time crowned the silence with some music of hustles. His face covered with the grass of few patches in the form of brownish white hair forming a look of a man like music maestro. The files were clutched as if they are the decree of his eternal life. Eyes framed like balls thrushed in someone's face mercilessly. traffic-less road, natural melody, resplendent charm of the breeze, and the kingdom of darkness. Thoughts free from the misery of world, nerves busy in the parade of composing the ideals of life and eyes....abruptly squeezed with the lites of a rushed cab apearing from no where...
 The days of childhood in the orchards of peace and tranquility, the crying day on the threshold of school, the winning day of prize with the smile of heavens on his face, the maternal kiss on the forehead, the hand which grabbed like an emotion of eternal, the day of holding the arm of his siblings, love like feelings for a maiden with naughty smile, the feeing of first love with the diction of repeated sentence "can't live without you," the crocodile tears of broken heart which got healed in a week with the repeated notion of "without you genre" the ceremony of graduation with a straight head plunging with the pride of future business tycoon, a debut for the series of interviews for his job with the curse of disappointment, tear filled eyes and hand holding the job letter, blessed love of being a married man with hopes of happiness, the traveling expedition and the last thing due to which drop of tear decorated his corners of eyes was his son newly guest in the corridors of the world. All these floated in his mind in splash of seconds when he encountered that rushing cab realising the departure from this world. His mind lost in the memories of his life in the world.
The cab rushed closely by him and he disturbed the grass floated on the earth with his falling jerks. Eyes closed, mind numb, breath sharp, movement stagnant as dead man. Lost in the valley of fear he was nowhere. His eyes glimpsed darkess of shining eternal bless. With the sound of a barking dog, suddenly he realized his alive state in the world looking here, there and upwards with a sigh of relief. Renovating his memory, he sensed he escaped death in the inches of life. The cab bestowed him a life of new begining by turning abruptly..