Kahlil Gibran – Beauty XXV

And a poet said, "Speak to us of Beauty."

Where shall you seek beauty, and how shall you find her unless she herself be your way and your guide?

And how shall you speak of her except she be the weaver of your speech?

The aggrieved and the injured say, "Beauty is kind and gentle.

Like a young mother half-shy of her own glory she walks among us."

And the passionate say, "Nay, beauty is a thing of might and dread.

Like the tempest she shakes the earth beneath us and the sky above us."

The tired and the weary say, "beauty is of soft whisperings. She speaks in our spirit.

Her voice yields to our silences like a faint light that quivers in fear of the shadow."

But the restless say, "We have heard her shouting among the mountains,

And with her cries came the sound of hoofs, and the beating of wings and the roaring of lions."

At night the watchmen of the city say, "Beauty shall rise with the dawn from the east."

And at noontide the toilers and the wayfarers say, "we have seen her leaning over the earth from the windows of the sunset."

In winter say the snow-bound, "She shall come with the spring leaping upon the hills."

And in the summer heat the reapers say, "We have seen her dancing with the autumn leaves, and we saw a drift of snow in her hair."

All these things have you said of beauty.

Yet in truth you spoke not of her but of needs unsatisfied,

And 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.

Kahlil Gibran – Defeat

Defeat, my Defeat, my solitude and my aloofness;

You are dearer to me than a thousand triumphs,

And sweeter to my heart than all world-glory.

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 leveled 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.

Kahlil Gibran – Crucified

I cried to men, “I would be crucified!”

And they said, “Why should your blood be upon our heads?”

And I answered, “How else shall you be exalted except by crucifying madmen?”

And they heeded and I was crucified.  And the crucifixion appeased me.

And when I was hanged between earth and heaven they lifted up their heads to see me.  And they were exalted, for their heads had never before been lifted.

But as they stood looking up at me one called out, “For what art thou seeking to atone?”

And another cried, “In what cause dost thou sacrifice thyself?”

And a third said, “Thinkest thou with this price to buy world glory?”

Then said a fourth, “Behold, how he smiles!  Can such pain be forgiven?”

And I answered them all, and said:

“Remember only that I smiled.  I do not atone—nor sacrifice—nor wish for glory; and I have nothing to forgive.  I thirsted—and I besought you to give me my blood to drink.  For what is there can quench a madman’s thirst but his own blood?  I was dumb—and I asked wounds of you for mouths.  I was imprisoned in your days and nights—and I sought a door into larger days and nights.

And now I go—as others already crucified have gone.  And think not we are weary of crucifixion.  For we must be crucified by larger and yet larger men, between greater earths and greater heavens.”

Kahlil Gibran – The Blessed City

In my youth I was told that in a certain city every one lived

according to the Scriptures.

And I said, “I will seek that city and the blessedness thereof.”

And it was far.  And I made great provision for my journey.  And

after forty days I beheld the city and on the forty-first day I

entered into it.

And lo! the whole company of the inhabitants had each but a single

eye and but one hand.  And I was astonished and said to myself,

“Shall they of this so holy city have but one eye and one hand?”

Then I saw that they too were astonished, for they were marveling

greatly at my two hands and my two eyes.  And as they were speaking

together I inquired of them saying, “Is this indeed the Blessed

City, where each man lives according to the Scriptures?”  And they

said, “Yes, this is that city.”

“And what,” said I, “hath befallen you, and where are your right

eyes and your right hands?”

And all the people were moved.  And they said, “Come thou and see.”

And they took me to the temple in the midst of the city.  And in

the temple I saw a heap of hands and eyes.  All withered.  Then said

I, “Alas! what conqueror hath committed this cruelty upon you?”

And there went a murmur amongst them.  And one of their elders

stood forth and said, “This doing is of ourselves.  God hath made

us conquerors over the evil that was in us.”

And he led me to a high altar, and all the people followed.  And

he showed me above the altar an inscription graven, and I read:

“If thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee;

for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish,

and not that the whole body should be cast into hell.  And if thy

right hand offend thee, cut it off and cast it from thee; for it

is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and

not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.”

Then I understood.  And I turned about to all the people and cried,

“Hath no man or woman among you two eyes or two hands?”

And they answered me saying, “No, not one.  There is none whole save

such as are yet too young to read the Scripture and to understand

its commandment.”

And when we had come out of the temple, I straightway left that

Blessed City; for I was not too young, and I could read the scripture

Kahlil Gibran – The Astronomer

In the shadow of the temple my friend and I saw a blind man sitting alone.  And my friend said, “Behold the wisest man of our land.”

Then I left my friend and approached the blind man and greeted him. And we conversed.

After a while I said, “Forgive my question; but since when has thou been blind?”

“From my birth,” he answered.

Said I, “And what path of wisdom followest thou?”

Said he, “I am an astronomer.”

Then he placed his hand upon his breast saying, “I watch all these suns and moons and stars.”