The Playground of Life by Kahlil Gibran — Read

One hour devoted to the pursuit of beauty and love is worth a full / century of glory given by the frightened weak to the strong.

From that hour comes man's Truth; and during that century truth sleeps / between the restless arms of disturbing dreams.

In that hour the soul sees for herself the natural law, and for that / century she imprisons herself behind the law of man; and she is / shackled with irons of oppression.

That hour was the inspiration of the Songs Of Solomon, and that / century was the blind power which destroyed the temple of Baalbek.

That hour was the birth of the Sermon on the Mount, and that century / wrecked the castles of Palmyra and the Tower of Babylon.

That hour was the Hegira of Mohammed and that century forgot Allah, / Golgotha, and Sinai.

One hour devoted to mourning and lamenting the stolen equality of the / weak is nobler than a century filled with greed and usurpation.

It is at that hour when the heart is purified by flaming sorrow and / illuminated by the torch of love.

And in that century, desires for truth are buried in the bosom of the / earth.

That hour is the root which must flourish.

That hour of meditation, the hour of prayer, and the hour of a new era / of good.

And that century is a life of Nero spent on self-investment taken / solely from earthly substance.

This is life.

Portrayed on the stage for ages; recorded earthly for centuries; lived / in strangeness for years; sung as a hymn for days; exalted but for an / hour, but the hour is treasured by eternity as a jewel