Life     
 

I sat with the stars on the hill of life
And looked at the world below.
I ran with the winds where the winds begin
And followed them where they blow.

I lay by the sea on the beaten rock
And rode on the farthest wave.
I watched by a child on its night of birth
And followed it to its grave.
 

And love in the still of the star-flecked night,
When earth was all strewn with gold,
Has lifted my heart like the chords of song
Oft sung in the worlds of old.

And though I have not understood all this,
Made up of a laugh and a wail,
I think that the God of the world knows all,
And someday will tell the tale.
 

--Max Ehrmann
from The Desiderata of Happiness