His Own Sacred Tears

On 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 life
Your pain would not seem less
Wondrous than your joy.

And you would accept the seasons of the 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 burns your lips
Has been fashioned of clay
Which the Potter has moistened
With His own sacred tears.

~ Kahlil Gibran