*by Kahlil Gibran*  >Your pain is the breaking of the shell >that encloses your understanding. >Even as the stone of the fruit must break,that its >heart may stand in the sun, so must you know pain. > >And could you keep your heart in wonder >at the daily miracles of your life, your pain >would not seem less wondrous than your joy; > >And you would accept the seasons of your >heart, even as you have always accepted >the seasons that pass over your fields. > >And you would watch with serenity >through the winters of your grief. > >Much of your pain is self-chosen. > >It is the bitter potion by which the >physician within you heals your sick self. > >Therefore trust the physician, and drink >his remedy in silence and tranquillity: > >For his hand, though heavy and hard, is guided >by the tender hand of the Unseen, >And the cup he brings, though it burn your lips, >has been fashioned of the clay which the Potter >has moistened with His own sacred tears.