The Signature of All Things: a tribute ~

(The Signature of All Things is a new book from Elizabeth Gilbert (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86x-u-tz0MA&feature=youtube_gdata_player). It's an elegant, exciting and deeply compassionate tale of a determined young girl, at the turn of the 19th century, as she tries to discover the beginnings of all things inside the mysteries of botany. Instead she finds the meaning of life in the love of a man, who, in turn, throws her life into tumult as he finds the signature of all things elsewhere.

This poem is a freewheeling tribute to it's redoubtable heroine.)

She asked -

Why it is difficult being oneself?

To live within ones skin,

To desire a man within oneself,

To be selfish, brilliant and in love,

To find a world within ones heart 

And then despair to find it is too large?

She asked -

Can't I be less beautiful than my sister 

And more talented?

Can't I be a daughter whose blood 

Revels in the restlessness of an idea?

Who finds universes within 

The whorls of a leaf, 

And joy in the slow awakening

Of a petal?

She said -

It's good to be stoic,

But strong winds break backs:

Why did I fall in love 

And watch my love 

Fall in love elsewhere?

And then fall in love again,

Be in love 

And not be fucked?

She asked -

Can self centeredness 

Have redemption?

Can love find it's end 

As a tribute to life?

Or is love a transient companion,

Lesser than ego, larger than life?

She asked -

Can I find peace 

In finding my life's work 

In the work of others? 

Maybe.

Simply because I know      

The signature of all things

Lies not in finalities,

But in knowing what's incomplete,

And in revelling in it's 

Beautiful ambiguities 

And sudden revelations ~

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Elizabeth Gilbert: Your elusive creative genius