Here is the dharma poem of the week, a wonderful poem by Mahmoud Darwish.
I Was Not With Me
Staring at the ceiling, resting my face on my hand, like some-
body stealing up on a fresh idea, or lying in wait for a gleam
of inspiration. After a few hours I realized I wasn’t there on
the ceiling, or here on the chair, and my mind was blank. I
was absorbed in nothing, in total, complete emptiness, sepa-
rated from my being, sheltered by a benign absence, and free
from pain. I was neither sad nor happy, for nothingness has
no connection to emotion, nor to time. Not a single memory
shook me awake from this trance, and no fear of my fate dis-
turbed my obliviousness to the future. For some reason, I was
sure I would live until tomorrow. I could not hear the sound
of the rain shattering the smell of the breeze outside, nor the
flutes bearing the inside away. I was nothing in the presence
of nothing, and I was calm, trusting, and confident. For how love-
ly it is for a person to be nothing, only once, not more!
…
I think the last two words are particularly interesting. Thoughts?
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