More poetry ... this is, for me, heavily reminiscent of Ten, particularly post-JE.

[preserved_ginger]

That, plus the fact that in general it’s pretty much awesome.

It’s by Khalil Gibran, the author of The Prophet, and it has everything in it, from the self-imposed isolation and suffering to the Lonely God himself:

“On Pain”
Khalil Gibran

Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses
your understanding.

Even as the stone of the fruit must break, that its
heart may stand in the sun, so must you know pain.

And could you keep your heart in wonder at the
daily miracles of your life, your pain would not seem
less wondrous than your joy;

And you would accept the seasons of your heart,
even as you have always accepted the seasons that
pass over your fields.

And you would watch with serenity through the
winters of your grief.

Much of your pain is self-chosen.

It is the bitter potion by which the physician within
you heals your sick self.

Therefore trust the physician, and drink his remedy
in silence and tranquility:

For his hand, though heavy and hard, is guided by
the tender hand of the Unseen,

And the cup he brings, though it burn your lips, has
been fashioned of the clay which the Potter has
moistened with His own sacred tears.

Comments

[helygen.livejournal.com]

Guuuuh.
I love this (love most of his writing), but it's been a while since I read it, and only now that you've pointed it out can I see how it could so easily have been written for the Doctor.
I've always thought of it as a very poignant piece, but now, reading it in terms of the Doctor's suffering, the sadness just rolls of it.