dream & a sage
from Sandman #74, 'Exiles':
' "There was once a sage who loved his only son as much as you loved yours.
One day the son died, and yet the father shed no tears and made no mourning.
When they asked why, he told them, I did not mourn him before he was born, and I will not mourn him now he is gone.
What do you think of that?"
"I think that was foolishness.
You mourn, for it is proper to mourn,
But your grief serves you: you do not become a slave to grief. You bid the dead farewell, and you continue." '
* * * *
"Omnia mutantur, nihil interit." - "Everything changes, but nothing is truly lost."
' "There was once a sage who loved his only son as much as you loved yours.
One day the son died, and yet the father shed no tears and made no mourning.
When they asked why, he told them, I did not mourn him before he was born, and I will not mourn him now he is gone.
What do you think of that?"
"I think that was foolishness.
You mourn, for it is proper to mourn,
But your grief serves you: you do not become a slave to grief. You bid the dead farewell, and you continue." '
* * * *
"Omnia mutantur, nihil interit." - "Everything changes, but nothing is truly lost."