♡ Joie de Vivre ♡

...For I am the first and the last.
I am the wife and the virgin.
I am the mother and the daughter.
I am she whose wedding is great,
and I have not taken a husband.
I am the bride and the bridegroom,
I am the silence that is incomprehensible
and the idea whose remembrance is frequent.
I am the boice whose sound is manifold
I am senseless and I am wise.
...and establish the great ones
among the small first creatures.
Come forward to childhood,
and do not despise it because it is small and it is little.
And do not turn away greatnesses in some parts from the smallnesses,
for the smallnesses are known from the greatnesses.
I am the one who is honored, and who is praised,
For I am knowledge and ignorance.
I am shame and boldness.
I am shameless; I am ashamed.
I am strength and I am fear.
I am war and peace.
But I, I am compassionate and I am cruel.
Do not hate my obedience and do not love my self-control.
but I am she who exists in all fears and strength in trembling.
I am she who is weak, and I am well in a pleasant place...
I am peace,
And I am an alien and a citizen.
I am the substance and the one who has no substance.
I am control and the uncontrollable.
I am the union and the dissolution.
I am the hearing which is attainable to everyone
and the speech which cannot be grasped.
I am a mute who does not speak,
and great is my multitude of words.

(a first century poem copyright by Brill Academic Publishers)