How life is strange and changeful, and the crystal is in the steel at the point of fracture, and the toad bears a jewel in its forehead, and the meaning of moments passes like the breeze that scarcely ruffles the leaf of the willow.
Interpretation
Life is unpredictable and full of change, often containing hidden beauty amidst struggle.
This quote reflects on the paradox of life, suggesting that within the turmoil and unpredictability of existence, there are moments of beauty and clarity. The imagery of a crystal in steel at the point of fracture represents potential beauty in vulnerability, while the toad with a jewel signifies hidden treasures in unexpected places. The fleeting nature of these moments, much like a gentle breeze, reminds us of how quickly experiences can pass us by.
In practice
Using this quote during a graduation speech to emphasize the unpredictable journey of life ahead.
...the air so still it aches like the place where the tooth was on the morning after you’ve been to the dentist or aches like your heart in the bosom when you stand on the street corner waiting for the light to change and happen to recollect how things once were and how they might have been yet if what happened had not happened.
The poem is a little myth of man's capacity of making life meaningful.
And what we students of history always learn is that the human being is a very complicated contraption and that they are not good or bad but are good and bad and the good comes out of the bad and the bad out of the good, and the devil take the hindmost.
Yet the definition we have made of ourselves is ourselves. To break out of it, we must make a new self. But how can the self make a new self when the selflessness which it is, is the only substance from which the new self can be made?
So little time we live in Time,_x000D_ _x000D_ And we learn all so painfully,_x000D_ _x000D_ That we may spare this hour's term_x000D_ _x000D_ To practice for Eternity.
For what is a poem but a hazardous attempt at self-understanding: it is the deepest part of autobiography.
The Middle Ages burned its heretics and the modern age threatens them with atom bombs.
It is likewise to be observed that this society hath a peculiar chant and jargon of their own, that no other mortal can understand, and wherein all their laws are written, which they take special care to multiply.
Well, as everyone knows, once witchcraft gets started, there's no stopping it.
How does a man decide in what order to abandon his life?
For after the Battle comes quiet.
The Torah is the foundational text for Jewish law, but the Haggadah is our book of living memory. We are not merely telling a story here. We are being called to a radical act of empathy. Here we are, embarking on an ancient, perennial attempt to give human lives - our lives - dignity.
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