"Though the road is endless ...."

Though the road is endless, take the first step;

watching from a distance is not for real men.

To live for the body is all animals can do,

But you must travel by the life of the heart.

(Divan-e Shams-e Tabrizi: Quatrain 288)

"A happy creature ...."

A happy creature is your snail indeed!

Just where he pleases he can live and feed.

And if a neighbour gives him any bother

With his house on back he moves off to another.

Philemon

"Time slowly chips away ...."

Time slowly chips away at life. People don’t just die when their time comes. They gradually die away, from the inside. And finally the day comes when you have to settle accounts. Nobody can escape it. People have to pay the price for what they’ve received.

Haruki Murakami