TO LIVE

After a while you learn
That being broken hearted
Does not mean losing faith
In love
That kisses, presents, flowers
Holding hands and romance
Are just like music, poems and dance
Wonderful parts of living
That you can always welcome and embrace

And you also learn
That to be a (hu)man does not mean to be a hero
With a shining armour
Riding a majestic white horse
That when the storm comes
You don’t have to keep your head up
Just to show the world that you are strong
Because the real courage is shown
When you admit that you are scared
And the real strength is proven
When you are not afraid to be called a child
By the people who witness your grieves and tears

As the most courageous act of King David
Is not his fight against Goliath
But his honest and genuine scream of“My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”Which was chosen by the Messiah
To be spoken, to heal the wounded world

And you also learn
That the word ‘weak’ is uttered
By the people who are too afraid to face their own fears
That the word ‘loser’ is stated
By the ones who measure their lives only in failures and successes
That the word ‘defeat’ is used
By those who can only see the world as a battlefield

You learn that to grow
Is to learn to be true to your self, to God, and to others
To accept willingly and openly, bothYour tears and your laughter
Your joys and your sorrows
Your wisdom and your foolishness
Your fortitudes and your fears
Your hopes and your desperations
That they are simply just different colours
Of the same rainbow

You learn that to trust
Is to be open to the possibility of betrayal
And that to give all
Is to be ready not to receive anything back
That the word “Hosanna”
Is usually followed by the word “Crucify”

And in the end you really learn
That your heart is made of flesh and blood
Not of stone or metal
And that the only way to protect it
Is not by building a wall around
Because your heart’s true amazing power
Is only unleashed
When you let it bleed…

And then I believe,
I know, in this way
You learn, you learn, and you learn
TO LIVE….

Cikarang, 9 June 2008, 18:51