Where I Once Sang
It gently faded,
all I once believed in.
But I am glad there is a world
that seems to go on
where I once sang.
All I ever knew is still a part of me
and will be, forever.
And sometimes, I even talk
to that wondrous world
where I once lived.
A prevalent theme in both literature and life is that children are inherently different than adults. A divide exists between childhood and adulthood, with innocence marking the former and a loss of something defining the latter. In one of the most well-known children's books of all time, Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, there is a line: “I can't go back to yesterday because I was a different person then.”
This line could obviously illustrate the bridge that knowledge brings to a child, in that certain things, once learned, do change who you are. Conversely, I happen to like that the line could nearly mean anything. Philosophically, we aren't the same, as the famous statement by Heraclitus goes: "You cannot step twice into the same river." Has the river changed or have we? Emotionally, we aren't the same, as any conversation had within a parent/child relationship, friendship, romantic relationship, student/teacher relationship, etc. changes you - for better or worse. Moments change people, though the metamorphosis may be minute.
The comforting element is that Hafiz has reminded us that we are more than the last conversation we had with someone. We are the persons who have left echoes where we once sang. Particular events in life may trigger a "return" to this "world", remembering a song or coming across a familiar title. Then there are the stories and characters that stay with us, Narnia's Aslan, Harry Potter's Dumbledore, Charlie's Willy Wonka, Dr. Seuss's The Lorax. And if we are lucky, there are people within our own lives who remind us of "that wondrous world" where we once lived.
It gently faded,
all I once believed in.
But I am glad there is a world
that seems to go on
where I once sang.
All I ever knew is still a part of me
and will be, forever.
And sometimes, I even talk
to that wondrous world
where I once lived.
A prevalent theme in both literature and life is that children are inherently different than adults. A divide exists between childhood and adulthood, with innocence marking the former and a loss of something defining the latter. In one of the most well-known children's books of all time, Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, there is a line: “I can't go back to yesterday because I was a different person then.”
This line could obviously illustrate the bridge that knowledge brings to a child, in that certain things, once learned, do change who you are. Conversely, I happen to like that the line could nearly mean anything. Philosophically, we aren't the same, as the famous statement by Heraclitus goes: "You cannot step twice into the same river." Has the river changed or have we? Emotionally, we aren't the same, as any conversation had within a parent/child relationship, friendship, romantic relationship, student/teacher relationship, etc. changes you - for better or worse. Moments change people, though the metamorphosis may be minute.
The comforting element is that Hafiz has reminded us that we are more than the last conversation we had with someone. We are the persons who have left echoes where we once sang. Particular events in life may trigger a "return" to this "world", remembering a song or coming across a familiar title. Then there are the stories and characters that stay with us, Narnia's Aslan, Harry Potter's Dumbledore, Charlie's Willy Wonka, Dr. Seuss's The Lorax. And if we are lucky, there are people within our own lives who remind us of "that wondrous world" where we once lived.
The Cheshire Cat
“Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”
― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
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