This is from a day trip I took to Lebanon, where my father is from and a poet that is a formative influence for me, as a writer: Gibran Khalil Gibran. Gibran, in turn, was heavily influenced by William Blake and Friedrich Nietzsche, whose philosophical and aphoristic style also shaped the writer that I became.
At the resplendently green Bcharri, Lebanon, is a museum dedicated the national treasure, Gibran. This museum is an old monastery where the celebrated poet spoke of retiring. In a simply-furnished monk-like room, is Gibran’s tomb.
The words on the epitaph read:
I am alive like you … Close your eyes
and look around, you will see me in front of you.
As we stepped outside (I was visiting with my dad's side of the family) one has only to open their eyes and look around to see that the mountains are alive with poetry.