by Mickey McGroarty
When I first read this simple epitaph from Rabindranath Tagore’s Fireflies I found myself weeping without knowing why; the simple power of this little poem is so profound. So often we find ourselves drifting through life, consuming meaningless content, reading the news with dread, merely living in time. Sometimes it feels like I’m inching toward death without giving anything back to the world around me. Tagore reminds us to participate in the world around us and engage with others through love. It doesn’t matter if there's life after death or if we leave a legacy behind after we’re gone, because we can find little eternities here on Earth. So long as we live in love, we can find simple moments in song that feel endless.
Original Text:
When Death comes and whispers to me, “Your days are ended,” let me say to him, “I have lived in love and not in mere time.” He will ask, “Will thy songs remain?” I shall say, “I know not, but this I know that often when I sang I found my eternity.
From Fireflies
By Rabindranath Tagore
Adapted Text by composer:
When my days are ended, let me say: “I have lived in love and not in mere time.”
When my days are ended, let me sing, Though I do not know: “Will my songs remain?” But this I know…
When I sing I find it:
My Eternity.