‘Fear’, by Khalil Gibran.
It is said that before entering the sea,
a river trembles with fear.
It looks back upon the path
it has travelled, from the peaks,
the mountains, the long, winding road
that passes through forests and villages,
and sees before it an ocean so vast
that entering it seems nothing less
than having to disappear forever.
But there is no other way.
The river cannot turn back.
No one can turn back.
Turning back is impossible in life.
The river must take the risk
and flow into the ocean.
It is only by flowing into the ocean
that the fear will vanish,
for only then
will the river know that it is not
a matter of disappearing into the ocean,
but of becoming the ocean.