The vase and I

What destiny holds for us - no one knows
Alike - for the believers and the ones who don't
But like clay, spinning atop a potter's wheel
We shape our lives - by touch and feel

A handful of earth, some water, some love
under the blue summer skies above
We aren't too different, that vase and I
Though I don't crack and she don't cry

Around and around, she turns and spins
as an object, a function of the potter's whim
With fire in our hearts and dreams in our eyes
On the road to self-discovery, some tread, others fly

And when her master's hands have made their peace
with the moist lump of earth- that'll now hold lillies
He chucks her into the oven, a coal-heated pyre
Readying it for the world; in a trial by fire

From ash we rise and to ash we resign
A life full of living - both sweet and brine
Many questions to ask, many answers to find
While she will hold lillies, what will you leave behind?