Before and After ~ Stephen Mitchell’s Second Book of the Dao
I was digging into Stephen Mitchell’s The Second Book of the Dao one day back in January (over a lovely Red Snapper Soup @ Granville Island) when a passage in the second chapter inspired the following poem.
Before and After
Before sorrow, longing
Before longing, anger
Before anger, pain
Before pain, injury
Before injury, fearIn all these there is no suffering
Suffering comes only when there is no afterBefore after, forgiving
Before forgiving, love
Before love, courage
Before courage, self
Before self, surrender
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and before surrender….acceptance
I was going to write, “surrender is acceptance” but I think you’re wiser than that. We can accept a fate without surrendering to it.