564 Never Ready

For a friend when his relative was in a coma.

We are never prepared when sadness comes upon us,
Distraught when this or other calamity visits family / loved ones.
The sages say that a soul can only depart when it has fulfilled
Its primary objectives on Earth, what we should look for is a life well lived.

An aged friend lost her even more gracefully aged mother a few years ago.
She reminded me that "even soul - stuff need to recycle" - you know
This is something many of us do not understand - but the Tibetans say
It's all about the secret to "living and dying" - inextricably linked we are, like night and day.

I was very fortunate to have read, at a young age, Khalil Gibran *1 who said with feeling:
Without contemplating death to it's full dregs, how can we know life to its full meaning?
Whether you believe in the Doctrine of Rebirth, or in a Hereafter, isn't it true
That souls are immortal and "beyond time"? That love survives death, so don't be blue.

The sages also say, to not grieve overlong, let a soul go peacefully without distress,
For not being there or letting anyone down. We just need to ask for the departing soul to bless
Us as we continue on the journey of life, a little more somber, a little more careworn,
For a loss can never be understood as "necessary" before meeting again, our outlook forlorn.

Enough of my meandering thoughts, and forgive me for being a little philosophical,
A father's life is teetering on the brink, a stark reminder that our sojourn here is a life magical.
Who but the sages understand the interplay of karma and rnanubandana associated with living?
Let the healing begin all round, so that love becomes a bolster to courage and manifold blessings does bring <3 *1 - https://legacy.yieldmore.org/works/the-prophet/chapter27/ === You would know the secret of death. But how shall you find it unless you seek it in the heart of life?