{"product_id":"2940016116068","title":"The Philosophy of Despair","description":"A darkening sky and a whitening sea,\u003cbr\u003e  And the wind in the palm trees tall;\u003cbr\u003e  Soon or late comes a call for me,\u003cbr\u003e  Down from the mountain or up from the sea,\u003cbr\u003e  Then let me lie where I fall.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  And a friend may write--for friends there be,\u003cbr\u003e  On a stone from the gray sea wall,\u003cbr\u003e  \"Jungle and town and reef and sea--\u003cbr\u003e  I loved God's Earth and His Earth loved me,\u003cbr\u003e  Taken for all in all.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eToday is your day and mine, the only day we have, the day in which we\u003cbr\u003eplay our part. What our part may signify in the great whole, we may not\u003cbr\u003eunderstand, but we are here to play it, and now is our time. This we\u003cbr\u003eknow, it is a part of action, not of whining. It is a part of love, not\u003cbr\u003ecynicism. It is for us to express love in terms of human helpfulness.\u003cbr\u003eThis we know, for we have learned from sad experience that any other\u003cbr\u003ecourse of life leads toward decay and waste.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Philosophy of Despair\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Bubbles of Sáki.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom Fitzgerald's exquisite version of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, I\u003cbr\u003etake the following quatrains which may serve as a text for what I have\u003cbr\u003eto say:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  So when the angel of the darker Drink\u003cbr\u003e  At last shall find you by the river-brink,\u003cbr\u003e  And offering you his cup, invite your Soul\u003cbr\u003e  Forth to your lips to quaff, you shall not shrink.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  Why, if the soul can fling the Dust aside,\u003cbr\u003e  And naked on the air of Heaven ride,\u003cbr\u003e  Wert not a shame--wert not a shame for him\u003cbr\u003e  In this clay carcase crippled to abide?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  'Tis but a tent where takes his one-day's rest\u003cbr\u003e  A Sultan to the realm of Death addrest;\u003cbr\u003e  The Sultan rises, and the dark Ferrásh\u003cbr\u003e  Strikes, and prepares it for another guest.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  And fear not lest Existence, closing your\u003cbr\u003e  Account, and mine, shall know the like no more;\u003cbr\u003e  The Eternal Sáki from that bowl hath pour'd\u003cbr\u003e  Millions of bubbles like us, and will pour.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  When you and I behind the veil are past,\u003cbr\u003e  Oh, but the long, long while the world shall last,\u003cbr\u003e  Which of our coming and departure heeds\u003cbr\u003e  As the Sev'n Seas shall heed a pebble-cast.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  A moment's halt--a momentary taste\u003cbr\u003e  Of Being from the Well amid the waste,\u003cbr\u003e  And lo!--the phantom caravan has reach'd\u003cbr\u003e  The Nothing it set out from--O, make haste!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  * * *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  There was the door to which I found no key;\u003cbr\u003e  There was the veil through which I could not see:\u003cbr\u003e  Some little talk awhile of Me and Thee\u003cbr\u003e  There was--and then no more of Thee and Me.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  * * *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  Why, all the Saints and Sages who discuss'd\u003cbr\u003e  Of the two worlds so learnedly are thrust\u003cbr\u003e  Like foolish prophets forth; their words to scorn\u003cbr\u003e  Are scatter'd and their mouths are stopt with dust.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  With them the seed of wisdom did I sow,\u003cbr\u003e  And with my own hand wrought to make it grow\u003cbr\u003e  And this was all the harvest that I reap'd--\u003cbr\u003e  \"I come like water, and like wind I go.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  * * *","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47071244812528,"sku":"2940016116068","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940016116068","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}