Tides and Cycles

A single summer grant me, great powers, and
A single autumn for fully ripened song
That, sated with the sweetness of my
Playing, my heart may more willingly die.

The soul that, living, did not attain its divine
Right cannot repose in the netherworld.
But once what I am bent on, what is
Holy, my poetry, is accomplished,

Be welcome then, stillness of the shadows' world
I shall be satisfied though my lyre will not
Accompany me down there. Once I
Lived like the gods, and more is not needed.

A poem by Holderlin: "Nur einen Sommer"

Death and Dying means many different things to Pagans. The preceding poem means a great deal to me. We are all givin two choices in life; to strive for great heights, or to enjoy the simple pleasures. The first choice threatens with failure. The second with mediocracy.

We at Pagan House have chosen the first option. We were born with a drive to achieve greatness. Pagan House is not yet the success we invision it to be. But the threat of failure looms. If I were to die now I would not regreat. For though I have failed I went farther than most by trying.

When confronted by our own mortality we must remember the peaks of our lives. While living we think 'positively' and by doing so we attract what we desire. So in death let us think of the peaks to catapult us on. Death is merely change. Let us assist in moving our fallen forward.