When love beckons you, follow him,
Though his ways are hard and steep.
And when his wings enfold you yield to him,
Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.
And when he speaks to you believe in him,
Though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the
garden.
(Kahlil Gibran)
The Prophet
Kahlil Gibran wrote a short book called 'The Prophet' which
explores many aspects of human life and relationship.
The wisdom and simplicity of the book make it a joy to read.
Talking
You talk when you
cease to be at peace with your thoughts:
And when you can no longer dwell in the solitude of your heart you live in your
lips,
and sound is a diversion and a pastime.
(Kahlil Gibran)
Love
But if in your fear you would seek only
love's peace and love's pleasure,
Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love's
threshing-floor,
Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh,
but not all of your
laughter,
and weep, but not all of your tears.
(Kahlil Gibran)
Marriage
Give your hearts,
but not into each other's keeping.
For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.
And stand together yet not too near together:
For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
And the oak tree and cypress grow not in each other's shadow.
(Kahlil Gibran)
Children
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 they belong not to you.
(Kahlil Gibran)
Teaching
The teacher who walks in the shadow of
the temple, among his followers,
gives not of his wisdom but rather of his faith and his lovingness.
If he is indeed wise he does not bid you enter the house of his wisdom,
but rather leads you to the threshold of your own mind.
(Kahlil Gibran)
The astronomer may speak to you of his understanding of space, but he cannot
give you his understanding.
The musician may sing to you of the rhythm which is in all space, but he cannot
give you the ear which arrests the rhythm or the voice that echoes it.
And he who is versed in the science of numbers can tell of the regions of weight
and measure, but he cannot conduct you thither.
For the vision of one man lends not its wings to another man.
(Kahlil Gibran)
Pain
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 you must know pain.
(Kahlil Gibran)
Freedom
You shall be free
indeed when your days are not without care nor your nights without a want and a
grief.
But rather when these things girdle your life and yet you rise above them naked
and unbound.
(Kahlil Gibran)
Page created 24 October 2000