Die before you die

Ironic, but one of the most intimate acts
of our body is
death.

So beautiful appeared my death – knowing who then I would kiss,
I died a thousand times before I died.

‘Die before you die,’ said the Prophet

Muhammad.

Have wings that feared ever
touched the Sun?

I was born when all I once
feared – I could
love.

From ‘Love Poems From God’ by Daniel Ladinsky.

Copyright © 1999 by Daniel Ladinsky. Reprinted by permission of the author.