In Praise of Impermanence

In Praise of Impermanence

O Death!

A moment in time when
Impermanence is
Not a privilege of any species,
Nor of any class or race.
Inclusivity personified.

Your stealth unveiled:
When we cease to be,
What we desire to be,
The scales fall from our eyes.

Nothing
turns loneliness into company
Like you

Nothing
removes all pain and suffering
Like you

NOTHING lasts
NOTHING is permanent
NOTHING is finished
NOTHING is perfect

What remains?
There is only becoming.
An unchanging and permanent self, a fiction.

Fading away and ceasing of that very craving to be,
Becoming and perishing in equal measure,
To the drum beat of our relationship to time.

Wabi sabi, the inexplicable pulse,
A process of continuous being,
Manifest in beauty and serenity
A patina that only comes with age.

Marlene Chan
March 15, 2021

 

RESOURCES
In Search of Wabi Sabi
History – WABI SABI
What is wabi sabi?