Sometimes

Sometimes you must lose to win.
Sometimes you must win to lose.

Is it harder for the seeker?
Is it harder for the one who has found?

The seeker believes every arrival is an arrival and every departure is a loss.
But the one who has found wonders: “Did I truly find what I found?” Yet if what he sought was not it, then he has not found at all.

Sometimes you grieve over what slips from your hands, unaware that even your hands are not yours.
Sometimes you rejoice over what is in your hands, yet again unaware that even that is not yours.

Sometimes you become a compass, pointing the way to every world.
Sometimes your compass grows weary as you strive to find your own world.

Sometimes you believe the worlds belong to you.
Sometimes you see that even the suffering has its own suffering.

Sometimes you think: “Am I passing along the path, or is the path passing through me?”
Sometimes you believe the path belongs to you, yet countless others walk upon it, come and go.

Sometimes you wish to plant a rose, unaware of its thorns.
Sometimes you plant a thornless rose, unaware of its sweet fragrance.

A rose resembles the world: if you grasp it tightly, its thorns pierce your hands and you suffer no pain until its fragrance fades. But once the fragrance and beauty are gone, you begin to feel the pain.

Yet what fault has the rose? There are those who do not know how to smell it.
There are those who do not know how to smell it without touching its thorns.

Sometimes we build and depart without understanding what it is.
Sometimes you walk knowing it will not come to pass.
Sometimes you walk simply to walk.
Sometimes you walk with hope…