Treasured Writings of Kahlil Gibran

by Kahlil Gibran

  The bird has an honor that man does not have. Man lives in the traps of his abdicated laws and traditions; but the birds live according to the natural law of God who causes the earth to turn around the sun.

  Advance, and never halt, for advancing is perfection. Advance and do not fear the thorns in the path, for they draw only corrupt blood.

  The optimist sees the rose and not its thorns; the pessimist stares at the thorns, oblivious of the rose.

  The obvious is that which is never seen until someone expresses it simply.

  Rebellion without truth is like spring in a bleak, arid desert.

  The teacher who is indeed wise does not bid you to enter the house of his wisdom but rather leads you to the threshold of your mind.

  It is not a garment I cast off this day, but a skin that I tear with my own hands.

  The tears that you spill, the sorrowful, are sweeter than the laughter of snobs and the guffaws of scoffers.

  There are those who give with joy, and that joy is their reward.

  You often say, "I would give, but only to the deserving." The trees in your orchard say not so, nor the flocks in your pastures. They give that they may live, for to withhold is to perish.

  They consider me to have sharp and penetrating vision because I see them through the mesh of a sieve.

  It is well to give when asked, but it is better to give unasked, through understanding.

  Keep me away from the wisdom which does not cry, the philosophy which does not laugh and the greatness which does not bow before children.

  They have exiled me now from their society and I am pleased, because humanity does not exile except the one whose noble spirit rebels against despotism and oppression.

  Trees are poems the earth writes upon the sky; we fell them down and turn them into paper, that we may record our emptiness.

  Music is the language of the spirit. It opens the secret of life bringing peace, abolishing strife.

  Trust in dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity.

  Verily the kindness that gazes upon itself in a mirror turns to stone, and a good deed that calls itself by tender names becomes the parent to a curse.

  The just is close to the people's heart, but the merciful is close to the heart of God.

  We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them.

  The philosopher's soul dwells in his head, the poet's soul is in his heart; the singer's soul lingers about his throat, but the soul of the dancer abides in all her body.

  What difference is there between us, save a restless dream that follows my soul but fears to come near you?

  The earth is like a beautiful bride who needs no manmade jewels to heighten her loveliness...

  No human relation gives one possession in another—every two souls are absolutely different. In friendship or in love, the two side by side raise hands together to find what one cannot reach alone.

  Poverty is a veil that obscures the face of greatness. An appeal is a mask covering the face of tribulation.

  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

  THE GOD 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!

  WHY 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

  COME, 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.

  Come, my beloved; Nature is justly weary

  And is bidding her enthusiasm farewell