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Kahlil Gibran
(1883 – 1931)

~ I will never forget the day 
when I for the first time, heard a fragment
from The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran.
To me this was a sacred moment.
The words were sparkling
like diamonds in the night.
It was love at first sound.
It was like finding a treasure .
The holy light of Gibrans spirit
 found an eternal home in my heart ~

Words by
 Julie Werner
(Copyright Julie Werner)

~ His power came from
Some great reservoir of spiritual life,
Else it could not have been so universal
And so potent
But the majesty and beauty
Of the language
With which he clothed it
Were all his own ~

Words by
Claude Bragdon

~ You were born together,
and together you shall be for evermore
You shall be together
when the white wings of death
scatter your days
Aye, you shall be together
even in the silent memory of God
But let there be spaces
in your togetherness
And let the winds of the heavens
 dance between you
Love one another,
 but make not a bond of love
Let it rather be a moving sea
 between the shores of your souls
Fill each other`s cup
but drink not from one cup
Give one another of your bread
but eat not from the same loaf
Sing and dance together and be joyous,
 but let each one of you be alone
Even as the strings of a lut are alone
though they quiver with the same music
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 the cypress
 grow not in each others shadow ~

~ The Wind Speaks
Not More Sweetly
 To The Giant Oaks
Than To The Least
Of All The Blades Of Grass ~

~ To Measure You
By Your Smallest Deed
Is To Reckon
The Power Of Ocean
By The Frailty
Of It`s Foam.

To Judge You By Your Failures
Is To Cast Blame
Upon The Seasons
For Their Inconstancy ~

~ Your hearts know in silence
the secrets of the days and the nights~

~ When love beckons to 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

For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you

Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning

Even as he ascends to your height

and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun

so shall he descend to your roots

and shake them in their clinging to the earth

Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself

He threshes you to make you naked

He shifts you to free your from your husks

He grinds you to whiteness

He kneads you until you are pliant

And then he assigns you to his sacred fire

that you may become sacred bread for God's sacred feast

All these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart,

and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life's heart

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

Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself

Love possesses not nor would it be possessed

For love is sufficient unto love

When you love you should not say, 'God is in my heart,

'but rather,'I am in the heart of God`

And think not you can direct the course of love, for love,

if it finds you worthy, directs your course

Love has no other desire but to fulfil itself

But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires

To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night

To know the pain of too much tenderness

To be wounded by your own understanding of love;

And to bleed willingly and joyfully.

To wake at dawn with a winged heart

and give thanks for another day of loving;

To rest at the noon hour and meditate love's ecstasy;

To return home at eventide with gratitude;

And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your Heart

and a song of praise upon your lips ~

~  The soul unfolds itself
Like a lotus of countless petals ~

~ When You See
A Man Led To Prison
 Say In Your Heart;

Mayhap He Is Escaping
From A Narrower Prison.

And When You See
A Man Drunken
Say In Your Heart;

Mayhap He Sought Escape
 from Something Still More Unbeautiful ~

~ The songs of the waves
and the hymns of the streams
 are scattered
and the voices of the throngs
 reduced to silence
 And I can hear naught
but the music of Eternity
 In exact harmony
with the spirit's desires
. I am cloaked in full whiteness
I am in comfort
I am in peace ~

~Beauty is not a need but an ecstasy
It is not a mouth thirsting
Nor an empty hand stretched forth
But rather a heart enflamed
And a soul enchanted
It is not the image you would see
Nor the song you would hear
But rather an image you see
Though you close your eyes
And a song you hear
Though you shut your ears
It is not the sap within the furrowed bark
Nor a wing attached to a claw
But rather a garden forever in bloom
And a flock of angels for ever in flight
People of Orphalese,
Beauty is life
When life unveils her holy face
But you are life
And you are the veil
Beauty is eternity
Gazing at itself in a mirror
But you are eternity
And you are the mirror ~

~ Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.

And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises

was oftentimes filled with your tears.

And how else can it be?

The deeper that sorrow carves into your being,

the more joy you can contain ~

~  If you love somebody,
let them go,
for if they return,
they were always yours.
And if they don't,
...they never were ~

~ Lovers embrace that which
 is between them
rather than each other ~

~ And If You Could Hear
 The Whispering Of That Dream
 You Would Hear
 No Other Sound ~

~ You delight in laying down laws,

Yet you delight more in breaking them.

Like children playing by the ocean
who build sand-towers with constancy
and then destroy them with laughter.

But while you build your sand-towers
the ocean brings more sand to the shore,

And when you destroy them, the ocean laughs with you.

Verily the ocean laughs always with the innocent.

But what of those to whom life is not an ocean,
and manmade laws are not sand-towers,

But to whom life is a rock,
 and the law a chisel with which
they would carve it in their own likeness?

What of the cripple who hates dancers?

What of the ox who loves his yoke
and deems the elk and deer
of the forest stray and vagrant things?

What of the old serpent who cannot shed his skin,
 and calls all others naked and shameless?

And of him who comes early to the wedding-feast,
 and when over-fed and tired goes his way
 saying that all feasts are violation
and all feasters law-breakers?

What shall I say of these save
that they too stand in the sunlight,
but with their backs to the sun?

They see only their shadows,
and their shadows are their laws ~

~ One day you will ask me ;
Which is most important,
 My life or yours?
I will say mine
And you will walk away
Not knowing
That you are my life ~

~ If I accept the sunshine and warmth
 I must also accept the thunder and lightning ~

~ Yesterday is but todays memory
Tomorrow is todays dream ~

 

~ 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 ~

~ All you have shall some day be given

Therefore give now

 That the season of giving

 May be yours and not your inheritors ~

~ Your Pain Is The Breaking

Of The Shell That Encloses

Your Understanding ~

~ The teacher if he is indeed wise

Does not teach bid you

to enter the house of wisdom

but leads you to the threshold

of your own mind ~

The Song of The Soul

~ In the depth of my soul there is A wordless song –
a song that lives In the seed of my heart.
It refuses to melt with ink on Parchment; it engulfs my affection
In a transparent cloak and flows, But not upon my lips.
How can I sigh it?
I fear it may Mingle with earthly ether;
To whom shall I sing it?
It dwells In the house of my soul, in fear of Harsh ears.
When I look into my inner eyes I see the shadow of its shadow;
When I touch my fingertips I feel its vibrations.
The deeds of my hands heed its Presence as a lake must reflect
The glittering stars; my tears Reveal it, as bright drops of dew
Reveal the secret of a withering rose.
It is a song composed by contemplation,
And published by silence,
And shunned by clamor,
And folded by truth,
And repeated by dreams,
And understood by love,
And hidden by awakening,
And sung by the soul.
It is the song of love;
What Cain or Esau could sing it?

It is more fragrant than jasmine;

What voice could enslave it?

It is heartbound, as a virgin's secret;
What string could quiver it?

Who dares unite the roar of the sea
And the singing of the nightingale?
Who dares compare the shrieking tempest

To the sigh of an infant?
Who dares speak aloud the words

Intended for the heart to speak?
What human dares sing in voice
The song of God ~

              
~ Hell is not in torture,
Hell is in an empty heart~

~ And none but you shall speak to me

of the beating of wings

And urging of seas

And of mountains that burn in the night ~

~ We are expression of earth,
and of life –
not separate individuals only ~

~ You shall be free indeed
when your days are not without a 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 ~

~ In one drop of water
are found all the secrets
of all the oceans ~

~ It was but yesterday we met in a dream

You have sung to me in my aloneness

And I of your longings
Have built a tower in the sky

But now our sleep has fled
And our dream is over
And it is no longer dawn

The noontide is upon us
And our half waking has turned To fuller day
And we must part

If in the twilight of memory
We should meet once more

We shall speak again together
And you shall sing to me A deeper song

And if our hands should meet in another dream
We shall build
Another tower in the sky ~

~ How Great Is Love,
And How Little Am I ~

~Doubt is a pain too lonely
to know that faith
 is his twin brother ~

~ And there are those that have little
and give it all.
These are the believers in life and the bounty of life,
 and their coffer is never empty.
There are those that give with joy
and that joy is their reward,
And there are those that give with pain
and that pain is their baptism.
And there are those who give
and know not pain in giving,
nor do they seek joy,
nor give with mindfulness of virture;
They give as in yonder valley
the myrtle breathes out its fragrance into space.
Through the hands of such as these God speaks,
and from behind their eyes
He smiles upon the earth ~

~ You often say
That you will give;
But only to the deserving
The trees in your orchard say not so
nor the flocks in your pastur ~

~  Ever has it been
that love knows not its own depth
until the hour of separation ~

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

~ 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 must you know pain.

And could you keep your heart in wonder
at the daily miracles of your life,
your pain would not seem less wondrous
than your joy;

And you would accept the seasons of your heart,
 even as you have always accepted
the seasons that pass over your fields.

And you would watch with serenity
through the winters of your grief.


Much of your pain is self-chosen.

It is the bitter potion by which the physician
within you heals your sick self.

Therefore trust the physician,
and drink his remedy in silence and tranquillity:

For his hand, though heavy and hard,
 is guided by the tender hand of the Unseen

And the cup he brings, though it burn your lips,
 has been fashioned of the clay
which the Potter has moistened
with His own sacred tears ~

~ The most pitiful among men
is he who turns his dreams
into silver and gold~

~ 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 ~

~ The real in us is silent
The acquired is talkative~

~ Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters
of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but are not from you,
 And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts.
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
 which you cannot visit, nor even in your dreams.
you may strive to be like them,
 but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children
 as living arrows are sent forth ~

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

~ Where are you, my beloved?
Are you in that little Paradise,
watering the flowers who look upon you
As infants look upon the breast of their mothers?

Or are you in your chamber
where the shrine of Virtue has been placed in your honor,
and upon Which you offer my heart and soul as sacrifice?

Or amongst the books, seeking human knowledge,
While you are replete with heavenly wisdom?

Oh companion of my soul, where are you?
Are you Praying in the temple?
Or calling Nature in the Field, haven of your dreams?

Are you in the huts of the poor,
consoling the Broken-hearted
with the sweetness of your soul,
and Filling their hands with your bounty?

You are God's spirit everywhere;
You are stronger than the ages.

Do you have memory of the day we met,
when the halo of You spirit surrounded us,
and the Angels of Love Floated about,
singing the praise of the soul's deed?

Do you recollect our sitting in the shade of the Branches,
sheltering ourselves from Humanity
as the ribs Protect the divine secret of the heart from injury?

Remember you the trails and forest we walked,
with hands Joined,
and our heads leaning against each other,
as if We were hiding ourselves within ourselves?

Recall you the hour I bade you farewell,
And the Maritime kiss you placed on my lips?
That kiss taught me that joining of lips
in Love Reveals heavenly secrets
which the tongue cannot utter!

That kiss was introduction to a great sigh,
Like the Almighty's breath that turned earth into man.

That sigh led my way into the spiritual world,
Announcing the glory of my soul;
and there It shall perpetuate until again we meet.

I remember when you kissed me and kissed me,
With tears coursing your cheeks, and you said,
Earthly bodies must often separate for earthly purpose,
And must live apart impelled by worldly intent.

But the spirit remains joined safely
in the hands of Love
until death arrives
and takes joined souls to God

Go, my beloved;
Love has chosen you her delegate
Over her, for she is Beauty
who offers to her follower The cup of the sweetness of life
As for my own empty arms,
your love shall remain my Comforting groom;
you memory, my Eternal wedding

Where are you now, my other self?
Are you awake in The silence of the night?
Let the clean breeze convey
To you my heart's every beat and affection.

Are you fondling my face in your memory?
That image Is no longer my own,
for Sorrow has dropped his Shadow
on my happy countenance of the past.

Sobs have withered my eyes
which reflected your beauty
And dried my lips
which you sweetened with kisses.

Where are you, my beloved?
Do you hear my weeping From beyond the ocean?
Do you understand my need?
Do you know the greatness of my patience?

Is there any spirit in the air capable
of conveying To you the breath of this dying youth?
Is there any Secret communication
between angels that will carry to You my complaint?

Where are you, my beautiful star?
The obscurity of life Has cast me upon its bosom;
sorrow has conquered me.

Sail your smile into the air;
it will reach and enliven me!
Breathe your fragrance into the air; it will sustain me!

Where are you, me beloved?

Oh, how great is Love! And how little am I!

~ I realized that all the trouble
 I ever had about you
came from some smallness
or fear in myself ~

~  Defeat, my Defeat,
my solitude and my aloofness;
You are dearer to me
than a thousand triumphs,
And sweeter to my heart
than all worldglory.

Defeat, my Defeat,
my self-knowledge and my defiance,
Through you I know
that I am yet young and swift of foot
And not to be trapped
 by withering laurels.
And in you I have found aloneness
And the joy of being shunned and scorned.

Defeat, my Defeat,
 my shining sword and shield,
In your eyes I have read
That to be enthroned is to be enslaved,
And to be understood is to be levelled down,
And to be grasped is but to reach one's fullness
And like a ripe fruit to fall and be consumed.

Defeat, my Defeat,
my bold companion,
You shall hear my songs
and my cries and my silences,
And none but you shall speak to me
of the beating of wings,
And urging of seas,
And of mountains that burn in the night,
And you alone shall climb my steep and rocky soul.

Defeat, my Defeat,
my deathless courage,
You and I shall laugh
together with the storm,
And together we shall dig graves
 for all that die in us,
And we shall stand in the sun with a will,
And we shall be dangerous ~

~ How shall my heart be unsealed
unless it be broken ~

~  Ever has it been that love
knows not its own depth
 until the hour of separation ~

~ Your pain is the breaking of the shell
that encloses your understanding ~

~ Generosity is giving
more than you can,
 and pride is taking less
than you need ~

~Beauty is not a need but an ecstasy

It is not a mouth thirsting

Nor an empty hand stretched forth

But rather a heart enflamed

And a soul enchanted

It is not the image you would see

Nor the song you would hear

But rather an image you see

Though you close your eyes

And a song you hear

Though you shut your ears

It is not the sap within the furrowed bark

Nor a wing attached to a claw

But rather a garden forever in bloom

And a flock of angels for ever in flight

People of Orphalese

Beauty is life

When life unveils her holy face

But you are life

And you are the veil

Beauty is eternity

Gazing at itself in a mirror

But you are eternity

And you are the mirror ~

~ The real life is within ~

~ A true hermit
goes to the wilderness
 to find - not to lose himself ~

~ You would know the secret of death.

But how shall you find it
unless you seek it in the heart of life?

The owl whose night-bound eyes are blind unto the day
cannot unveil the mystery of light.

If you would indeed behold the spirit of death,
open your heart wide unto the body of life.

For life and death are one
even as the river and the sea are one ~

~ In the depth of your hopes and desires
lies your silent knowledge of the beyond

And like seeds dreaming beneath the snow
your heart dreams of spring.

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

~ Your fear of death
is but the trembling of the shepherd
when he stands before the king whose hand
is to be laid upon him in honour.

Is the shepherd not joyful beneath his trembling,
that he shall wear the mark of the king?

Yet is he not more mindful of his trembling?


For what is it to die
but to stand naked in the wind
 and to melt into the sun?

And what is it to cease breathing,
 but to free the breath from its restless tides,
 that it may rise and expand
and seek God unencumbered?

~ Only when you drink from the river of silence
 Shall you indeed sing.

And when you have reached the mountain top
 Then you shall begin to climb.

And when the earth shall claim your limbs,
Then shall you truly dance ~

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

~ Trust in dreams
For in them is the hidden gate
To eternity ~

~ And You Shall See.
And You Shall Hear.
Yet You Shall Not Deplore
Having Known Blindness,
Nor Regret Having Been Deaf.
For In That Day
You Shall Know The Hidden Purposes
In All Things.
And You Shall Bless Darkness
As You Would Bless Light ~

 ~I came to say a word
and I shall say it now.
But if death prevents me,
it will be said by Tomorrow,
for Tomorrow never leaves a secret
in the book of Eternity.

I came to live in the glory of Love and the light of Beauty,
which are the reflections of God.
I am here, living,
and I cannot be exiled
from the domain of life,
for through my living word
I will live in death

I came here
to be for all and with all,
and what I do today in my solitude will be echoed
Tomorrow by the multitude

What I say now with one heart
will be said Tomorrow
by thousands of hearts ~

~ It Was In My Heart
To Help A Little
Because I Was
 Helped Much ~

 
 Gibran Memorial Plaque

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