I have drunk the wine of life until I reel.
I have lived and I have loved down to the lees. I have laughed and I have cried, and still I feel I would not forgo a moment. It would please Some to condemn me and to say
I am not “normal”; that my moods bode ill,
But though I’ve soared and plunged within their sway, Soared to heights of heaven, plunged to hell, I have found the face of god in desolation,
And the devil in the spirit of elation.
I have found and been all things to men.
I have loved and hated, and would do again. Who are they who have not trod the vale of death? Who are they to judge, who have not loved
Extravagant and fathomless as space?
Who are they who have not dared to hate,
Or learned balm of forgiving self for hating? How can they know themselves or others if they Never knew the gamut of emotion?
The whole wide world is mine and all that’s in it. I have no regrets. There is no limit
To a mind that sees a glimpse of heaven
In the eyes of evil men and suffering children. I understand that all minds cast a shadow,
But I have known both substance and my shadow, Know which way, if given choice, I’d follow, And I have chosen, followed, don’t regret
The choices I have made, the life I’ve lived. I have rejoiced and sometimes grieved,
But grieving only makes the gladness sweeter. I’d fear to live if I had feared an error.
I understand the shadow of my brother,
And love him as I love myself, whatever
He has done, or buried deep within his soul, Afraid to see the dark, to see the whole,
Creation and destruction, good and evil,
Nirvana, Samsara, God and devil.
As countries rise and fall with oceans’swell, And nations rise and fall at mankind’s will,
As history repeats itself, just so does man.
In each of us is good and there is evil,
Murder in each heart as well as love.
It all depends upon the dice of destiny
Which act we may be capable of,
And if humanity’s to reach its heaven
Here on earth, as some believe it should,
We all must forgive evil, and forget once forgiven, Those of us who strive to further good.
.Forgive your own mistakes as well as others’. Self-hatred is destructive too.
If we are to forgive evil in our brothers, We must forgive our sins; to ourselves be true. If you love and trust yourself then others Will be inclined to put their trust in you.