Treasured Writings of Kahlil Gibran (4 page)

 

We are all like the bright moon, we still have our darker side.

 

Of life's two chief prizes, beauty and truth, I found the first in a loving heart and the second in a laborer's hand.

 

We live only to discover beauty. All else is a form of waiting.

 

Much of your pain is self-chosen.

 

When you work you are a flute through whose heart the whispering of the hours turns to music. Which of you would be a reed, dumb and silent, when all else sings together in unison?

 

I have learned silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet, strange, I am ungrateful to those teachers.

 

Thus with my lips have I denounced you, while my heart, bleeding within me, called you tender names.

 

Wisdom stands at the turn in the road and calls upon us publicly, but we consider it false and despise its adherents.

 

I love you when you bow in your mosque, kneel in your temple, pray in your church. For you and I are sons of one religion, and it is the spirit.

 

Yesterday is but today's memory, tomorrow is today's dream.

 

Words are timeless. You should utter them or write them with a knowledge of their timelessness.

 

Generosity is not giving me that which I need more than you do, but it is giving me that which you need more than I do.

 

Yes, there is a Nirvanah; it is leading your sheep to a green pasture, and in putting your child to sleep, and in writing the last line of your poem.

 

It was in my heart to help a little because I was helped much.

 

Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.

 

Yesterday we obeyed kings and bent our necks before emperors. But today we kneel only to truth, follow only beauty, and obey only love.

 

Would that I were a dry well, and that the people tossed stones into me, for that would be easier than to be a spring of flowing water that the thirsty pass by, and from which they avoid drinking.

 

You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.

 

If the grandfather of the grandfather of Jesus had known what was hidden within him, he would have stood humble and awe-struck before his soul.

 

Love is trembling happiness.

 

You have been told that, even like a chain, you are as weak as your weakest link. This is but half the truth. You are also as strong as your strongest link.

 

If indeed you must be candid, be candid beautifully.

 

I prefer to be a dreamer among the humblest, with visions to be realized, than lord among those without dreams and desires.

 

You may chain my hands, you may shackle my feet; you may even throw me into a dark prison; but you shall not enslave my thinking, because it is free!
The most pitiful among men is he who turns his dreams into silver and gold.

 

If you reveal your secrets to the wind, you should not blame the wind for revealing them to the trees.

 

You pray in your distress and in your need; would that you might also pray in the fullness of your joy and in your days of abundance.

 

The feelings we live through in love and in loneliness are simply, for us, what high tide and low tide are to the sea.

 

In battling evil, excess is good; for he who is moderate in announcing the truth is presenting half-truth. He conceals the other half out of fear of the people's wrath.

 

Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself. They come through you but not from you. And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.

 

When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy.

 

Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you as by the attitude you bring to life; not so much by what happens to you as by the way your mind looks at what happens.

 

TEARS AND
LAUGHTER

THE CREATION

T
HE
G
OD
separated a spirit from Himself and fashioned it into beauty. He showered upon her all the blessings of gracefulness and kindness. He gave her the cup of happiness and said, “Drink not from this cup unless you forget the past and the future, for happiness is naught but the moment.” And He also gave her a cup of sorrow and said, “Drink from this cup and you will understand the meaning of the fleeting instants of the joy of life, for sorrow ever abounds.”

And the God bestowed upon her a love that would desert her forever upon her first sigh of earthly satisfaction, and a sweetness that would vanish with her first awareness of flattery.

And He gave her wisdom from heaven to lead her to the all-righteous path, and placed in the depth of her heart an eye that sees the unseen, and created in her an affection and goodness toward all things. He dressed her with raiment of hopes spun by the angels of heaven from the sinews of the rainbow. And He cloaked her in the shadow of confusion, which is the dawn of life and light.

Then the God took consuming fire from the furnace of anger, and searing wind from the desert of ignorance, and sharp-cutting sands from the shore of selfishness, and coarse earth from under the feet of ages, and combined them all and fashioned Man. He gave to Man a blind power that rages and drives him into a madness which extinguishes only before gratification of desire, and placed life in him which is the spectre of death.

And the God laughed and cried. He felt an overwhelming love and pity for Man, and sheltered him beneath His guidance.

HAVE MERCY ON ME, MY SOUL!

W
HY ARE
you weeping, my Soul?
Knowest thou my weakness?
Thy tears strike sharp and injure,
For I know not my wrong.
Until when shalt thou cry?
I have naught but human words
To interpret your dreams,
Your desires, and your instructions.

Look upon me, my Soul; I have
Consumed my full life heeding
Your teachings. Think of how
I suffer! I have exhausted my
Life following you.

My heart was glorying upon the
Throne, but is now yoked in slavery;
My patience was a companion, but
Now contends against me;
My youth was my hope, but
Now reprimands my neglect.

Why, my Soul, are you all-demanding?
I have denied myself pleasure
And deserted the joy of life
Following the course which you
Impelled me to pursue.
Be just to me, or call Death
To unshackle me,
For justice is your glory.

Have mercy on me, my Soul.
You have laden me with Love until
I cannot carry my burden. You and
Love are inseparable might; Substance
And I are inseparable weakness.
Will e'er the struggle cease
Between the strong and the weak?

Have mercy on me, my Soul.
You have shown me Fortune beyond
My grasp. You and Fortune abide on
The mountain top; Misery and I are
Abandoned together in the pit of
The valley. Will e'er the mountain
And the valley unite?

Have mercy on me, my Soul.
You have shown me Beauty, but then
Concealed her. You and Beauty live
In the light; Ignorance and I are
Bound together in the dark. Will
E'er the light invade darkness?

Your delight comes with the Ending,
And you revel now in anticipation;
But this body suffers with life
While in life.
This, my Soul, is perplexing.

You are hastening toward Eternity,
But this body goes slowly toward
Perishment. You do not wait for him,
And he cannot go quickly.
This, my Soul, is sadness.

You ascend high, through heaven's
Attraction, but this body falls by
Earth's gravity. You do not console
Him, and he does not appreciate you.
This, my Soul, is misery.

You are rich in wisdom, but this
Body is poor in understanding.
You do not compromise
And he does not obey.
This, my Soul, is extreme suffering.

In the silence of the night you visit
The Beloved and enjoy the sweetness of
His presence. This body ever remains
The bitter victim of hope and separation.
This, my Soul, is agonizing torture.
Have mercy on me, my Soul!

TWO INFANTS

A
PRINCE
stood on the balcony of his palace addressing a great multitude summoned for the occasion and said, “Let me offer you and this whole fortunate country my congratulations upon the birth of a new prince who will carry the name of my noble family, and of whom you will be justly proud. He is the new bearer of a great and illustrious ancestry, and upon him depends the brilliant future of this realm. Sing and be merry!” The voices of the throngs, full of joy and thankfulness, flooded the sky with exhilarating song, welcoming the new tyrant who would affix the yoke of oppression to their necks by ruling the weak with bitter authority, and exploiting their bodies and killing their souls. For that destiny, the people were singing and drinking ecstatically to the health of the new Emir.

Another child entered life and that kingdom at the same time. While the crowds were glorifying the strong and belittling themselves by singing praise to a potential despot, and while the angels of heaven were weeping over the people's weakness and servitude, a sick woman was thinking. She lived in an old, deserted hovel and, lying in her hard bed beside her newly-born infant wrapped with ragged swaddles, was starving to death. She was a penurious and miserable young wife neglected by humanity; her husband had fallen into the trap of death set by the prince's oppression, leaving a solitary woman to whom God had sent, that night, a tiny companion to prevent her from working and sustaining life.

As the mass dispersed and silence was restored to the vicinity, the wretched woman placed the infant on her lap and looked into his face and wept as if she were to baptize him with tears. And with a hunger-weakened voice she spoke to the child saying, “Why have you left the spiritual world and come to share with me the bitterness of earthly life? Why have you deserted the angels and the spacious firmament and come to this miserable land of humans, filled with agony, oppression, and heartlessness? I have nothing to give you except tears; will you be nourished on tears instead of milk? I have no silk clothes to put on you; will my naked, shivering arms give you warmth? The little animals graze in the pasture and return safely to their shed; and the small birds pick the seeds and sleep placidly between the branches. But you, my beloved, have naught save a loving but destitute mother.”

Then she took the infant to her withered breast and clasped her arms around him as if wanting to join the two bodies in one, as before. She lifted her burning eyes slowly toward heaven and cried, “God! Have mercy on my unfortunate countrymen!”

At that moment the clouds floated from the face of the moon, whose beams penetrated the transom of that poor home and fell upon two corpses.

THE LIFE OF LOVE

SPRING

C
OME,
my beloved; let us walk amidst the knolls,

For the snow is water, and Life is alive from its

Slumber and is roaming the hills and valleys.

Let us follow the footprints of Spring into the

Distant fields, and mount the hilltops to draw

Inspiration high above the cool green plains.

Dawn of Spring has unfolded her winter-kept garment

And placed it on the peach and citrus trees; and

They appear as brides in the ceremonial custom of

The Night of Kedre.

The sprigs of grapevine embrace each other like

Sweethearts, and the brooks burst out in dance

Between the rocks, repeating the song of joy;

And the flowers bud suddenly from the heart of

Nature, like foam from the rich heart of the sea.

Come, my beloved; let us drink the last of Winter's

Tears from the cupped lilies, and soothe our spirits

With the shower of notes from the birds, and wander

In exhilaration through the intoxicating breeze.

Let us sit by that rock, where violets hide; let us

Pursue their exchange of the sweetness of kisses.

SUMMER

Let us go into the fields, my beloved, for the

Time of harvest approaches, and the sun's eyes

Are ripening the grain.

Let us tend the fruit of the earth, as the

Spirit nourishes the grains of Joy from the

Seeds of Love, sowed deep in our hearts.

Let us fill our bins with the products of

Nature, as life fills so abundantly the

Domain of our hearts with her endless bounty.

Let us make the flowers our bed, and the

Sky our blanket, and rest our heads together

Upon pillows of soft hay.

Let us relax after the day's toil, and listen

To the provoking murmur of the brook.

AUTUMN

Let us go and gather the grapes of the vineyard

For the winepress, and keep the wine in old

Vases, as the spirit keeps Knowledge of the

Ages in eternal vessels.

Let us return to our dwelling, for the wind has

Caused the yellow leaves to fall and shroud the

Withering flowers that whisper elegy to Summer.

Come home, my eternal sweetheart, for the birds

Have made pilgrimage to warmth and left the chilled

Prairies suffering pangs of solitude. The jasmine

And myrtle have no more tears.

Let us retreat, for the tired brook has

Ceased its song; and the bubblesome springs

Are drained of their copious weeping; and

The cautious old hills have stored away

Their colourful garments.