Collected Poetical Works of Kahlil Gibran

by Kahlil Gibran

  Then he said, “Pity, my friends! Had you found the king drunk, surely he would have granted you your petition.”

  OUT OF MY DEEPER HEART

  OUT of my deeper heart a bird rose and flew skyward.

  Higher and higher did it rise, yet larger and larger did it grow.

  At first it was but like a swallow, then a lark, then an eagle, then as vast as a spring cloud, and then it filled the starry heavens.

  Out of my heart a bird flew skyward. And it waxed larger as it flew. Yet it left not my heart.

  . . . . . .

  O my faith, my untamed knowledge, how shall I fly to your height and see with you man’s larger self pencilled upon the sky?

  How shall I turn this sea within me into mist, and move with you in space immeasurable?

  How can a prisoner within the temple behold its golden domes?

  How shall the heart of a fruit be stretched to envelop the fruit also?

  O my faith, I am in chains behind these bars of silver and ebony, and I cannot fly with you.

  Yet out of my heart you rise skyward, and it is my heart that holds you, and I shall be content.

  DYNASTIES

  THE Queen of Ishana was in travail of childbirth; and the King and the mighty men of his court were waiting in breathless anxiety in the great hall of the Winged Bulls.

  At eventide there came suddenly a messenger in haste and prostrated himself before the King, and said, “I bring glad tidings unto my lord the King, and unto the kingdom and the slaves of the King. Mihrab the Cruel, thy life-long enemy, the King of Bethroun, is dead.”

  When the King and the mighty men heard this, they all rose and shouted for joy; for the powerful Mihrab, had he lived longer, had assuredly overcome Ishana and carried the inhabitants captive.

  At this moment the court physician also entered the hall of Winged Bulls, and behind him came the royal midwives. And the physician prostrated himself before the king, and said, “My lord the King shall live for ever, and through countless generations shall he rule over the people of Ishana. For unto thee, O King, is born this very hour a son, who shall be thy heir.”

  Then indeed was the soul of the King intoxicated with joy, that in the same moment his foe was dead and the royal line was established.

  Now in the City of Ishana lived a true prophet. And the prophet was young, and bold of spirit. And the King that very night ordered that the prophet should be brought before him. And when he was brought, the King said unto him, “Prophesy now, and foretell what shall be the future of my son who is this day born unto the kingdom.”

  And the prophet hesitated not, but said, “Hearken, O King, and I will indeed prophesy of the future of thy son, that is this day born. The soul of thy enemy, even of thy enemy King Mihrab, who died yestereve, lingered but a day upon the wind. Then it sought for itself a body to enter into. And that which it entered into was the body of thy son that, is born unto thee this hour.”

  Then the King was enraged, and with his sword he slew the prophet.

  And from that day to this, the wise men of Ishana say one to another secretly, “Is it not known, and has it not been said from of old, that Ishana is ruled by an enemy.”

  KNOWLEDGE AND HALF-KNOWLEDGE

  FOUR frogs sat upon a log that lay floating on the edge of a river. Suddenly the log was caught by the current and swept slowly down the stream. The frogs were delighted and absorbed, for never before had they sailed.

  At length the first frog spoke, and said, “This is indeed a most marvellous log. It moves as if alive. No such log was ever known before.”

  Then the second frog spoke, and said, “Nay, my friend, the log is like other logs, and does not move. It is the river, that is walking to the sea, and carries us and the log with it.”

  And the third frog spoke, and said, “It is neither the log nor the river that moves. The moving is in our thinking. For without thought nothing moves.”

  And the three frogs began to wrangle about what was really moving. The quarrel grew hotter and louder, but they could not agree.

  Then they turned to the fourth frog, who up to this time had been listening attentively but holding his peace, and they asked his opinion.

  And the fourth frog said, “Each of you is right, and none of you is wrong. The moving is in the log and the water and our thinking also.”

  And the three frogs became very angry, for none of them was willing to admit that his was not the whole truth, and that the other two were not wholly wrong.

  Then the strange thing happened. The three frogs got together and pushed the fourth frog off the log into the river.

  SAID A SHEET OF SNOW-WHITE PAPER....

  SAID a sheet of snow-white paper, “Pure was I created, and pure will I remain for ever. I would rather be burnt and turn to white ashes than suffer darkness to touch me or the unclean to come near me.”

  The ink-bottle heard what the paper was saying, and it laughed in its dark heart; but it never dared to approach her. And the multicoloured pencils heard her also, and they too never came near her.

  And the snow-white sheet of paper did remain pure and chaste for ever — pure and chaste — and empty.

  THE SCHOLAR AND THE POET

  SAID the serpent to the lark, “Thou flyest, yet thou canst not visit the recesses of the earth where the sap of life moveth in perfect silence.”

  And the lark answered, “Aye, thou knowest over much, nay thou art wiser than all things wise — pity thou canst not fly.”

  And as if he did not hear, the serpent said, “Thou canst not see the secrets of the deep, nor move among the treasures of the hidden empire. It was but yesterday I lay in a cave of rubies. It is like the heart of a ripe pomegranate, and the faintest ray of light turns it into a flame-rose. Who but me can behold such marvels?”

  And the lark said, “None, none but thee can lie among the crystal memories of the cycles: pity thou canst not sing.”

  And the serpent said, “I know a plant whose root descends to the bowels of the earth, and he who eats of that root becomes fairer than Ashtarte.”

  And the lark said, “No one, no one but thee could unveil the magic thought of the earth — pity thou canst not fly.”

  And the serpent said, “There is a purple stream that runneth under a mountain, and he who drinketh of it shall become immortal even as the gods. Surely no bird or beast can discover that purple stream.”

  And the lark answered, “If thou willest thou canst become deathless even as the gods — pity thou canst not sing.”

  And the serpent said, “I know a buried temple, which I visit once a moon: It was built by a forgotten race of giants, and upon its walls are graven the secrets of time and space, and he who reads them shall understand that which passeth all understanding.”

  And the lark said, “Verily, if thou so desirest thou canst encircle with thy pliant body all knowledge of time and space — pity thou canst not fly.”

  Then the serpent was disgusted, and as he turned and entered into his hole he muttered, “Empty headed songster!”

  And the lark flew away singing, “Pity thou canst not sing. Pity, pity, my wise one, thou canst not fly.”

  VALUES

  ONCE a man unearthed in his field a marble statue of great beauty. And he took it to a collector who loved all beautiful things and offered it to him for sale, and the collector bought it for a large price. And they parted.

  And as the man walked home with his money he thought, and he said to himself, “How much life this money means! How can any one give all this for a dead carved stone buried and undreamed of in the earth for a thousand years?”

  And now the collector was looking at his statue, and he was thinking, and he said to himself, “What beauty! What life! The dream of what a soul! — and fresh with the sweet sleep of a thousand years. How can any one give all this for money, dead and dreamless?”

  OTHER SEAS

  A FISH said to another fish, “Above this sea of ours there is another sea, with crea
tures swimming in it — and they live there even as we live here.”

  The fish replied, “Pure fancy! Pure fancy! When you know that everything that leaves our sea by even an inch, and stays out of it, dies. What proof have you of other lives in other seas?”

  REPENTANCE

  ON a moonless night a man entered into his neighbour’s garden and stole the largest melon he could find and brought it home.

  He opened it and found it still unripe.

  Then behold a marvel!

  The man’s conscience woke and smote him with remorse; and he repented having stolen the melon.

  THE DYING MAN AND THE VULTURE

  Wait, wait yet awhile, my eager friend.

  I shall yield but too soon this wasted thing,

  Whose agony overwrought and useless

  Exhausts your patience.

  I would not have your honest hunger

  Wait upon these moments:

  But this chain, though made of a breath,

  Is hard to break.

  And the will to die,

  Stronger than all things strong,

  Is stayed by a will to live

  Feebler than all things feeble.

  Forgive me comrade; I tarry too long.

  It is memory that holds my spirit;

  A procession of distant days,

  A vision of youth spent in a dream,

  A face that bids my eyelids not to sleep,

  A voice that lingers in my ears,

  A hand that touches my hand.

  Forgive me that you have waited too long.

  It is over now, and all is faded: —

  The face, the voice, the hand and the mist

  that brought them hither.

  The knot is untied.

  The cord is cleaved.

  And that which is neither food nor drink is withdrawn.

  Approach, my hungry comrade;

  The board is made ready,

  And the fare, frugal and spare,

  Is given with love.

  Come, and dig your beak here, into the left side,

  And tear out of its cage this smaller bird,

  Whose wings can beat no more:

  I would have it soar with you into the sky.

  Come now, my friend, I am your host tonight,

  And you my welcome guest.

  BEYOND MY SOLITUDE

  BEYOND my solitude is another solitude, and to him who dwells therein my aloneness is a crowded market-place and my silence a confusion of sounds.

  Too young am I and too restless to seek that above-solitude. The voices of yonder valley still hold my ears, and its shadows bar my way and I cannot go.

  Beyond these hills is a grove of enchantment and to him who dwells therein my peace is but a whirlwind and my enchantment an illusion.

  Too young am I and too riotous to seek that sacred grove. The taste of blood is clinging in my mouth, and the bow and the arrows of my fathers yet linger in my hand and I cannot go.

  Beyond this burdened self lives my freer self; and to him my dreams are a battle fought in twilight and my desires the rattling of bones.

  Too young am I and too outraged to be my freer self.

  And how shall I become my freer self unless I slay my burdened selves, or unless all men become free?

  How shall my leaves fly singing upon the wind unless my roots shall wither in the dark?

  How shall the eagle in me soar against the sun until my fledglings leave the nest which I with my own beak have built for them?

  THE LAST WATCH

  AT the high-tide of night, when the first breath of dawn came upon the wind, the Forerunner, he who calls himself echo to a voice yet unheard, left his bed-chamber and ascended to the roof of his house. Long he stood and looked down upon the slumbering city. Then he raised his head, and even as if the sleepless spirits of all those asleep had gathered around him, he opened his lips and spoke, and he said:

  “My friends and my neighbours and you who daily pass my gate, I would speak to you in your sleep, and in the valley of your dreams I would walk naked and unrestrained; far heedless are your waking hours and deaf are your sound-burdened ears.

  “Long did I love you and overmuch.

  “I love the one among you as though he were all, and all as if you were one. And in the spring of my heart I sang in your gardens, and in the summer of my heart I watched at your threshing-floors.

  “Yea, I loved you all, the giant and the pigmy, the leper and the anointed, and him who gropes in the dark even as him who dances his days upon the mountains.

  “You, the strong, have I loved, though the marks of your iron hoofs are yet upon my flesh; and you the weak, though you have drained my faith and wasted my patience.

  “You the rich have I loved, while bitter was your honey to my mouth; and you the poor, though you knew my empty-handed shame.

  “You the poet with the barrowed lute and blind fingers, you have I loved in self indulgence; and you the scholar, ever gathering rotted shrouds in potters’ fields.

  “You the priest I have loved, who sit in the silences of yesterday questioning the fate of my tomorrow; and you the worshippers of gods the images of your own desires.

  “You the thirsting woman whose cup is ever full, I have loved you in understanding; and you the woman of restless nights, you too I have loved in pity.

  “You the talkative have I loved, saying, ‘Life hath much to say’; and you the dumb have I loved, whispering to myself, ‘Says he not in silence that which I fain would hear in words?’

  “And you the judge and the critic, I have loved also; yet when you have seen me crucified, you said, ‘He bleeds rhythmically, and the pattern his blood makes upon his white skin is beautiful to behold.’

  “Yea, I have loved you all, the young and the old, the trembling reed and the oak.

  “But alas! it was the over-abundance of my heart that turned you from me. You would drink love from a cup, but not from a surging river. You would hear love’s faint murmur, but when love shouts you would muffle your ears.

  “And because I have loved you all you have said, ‘Too soft and yielding is his heart, and too undiscerning is his path. It is the love of a needy one, who picks crumbs even as he sits at kingly feasts. And it is the love of a weakling, for the strong loves only the strong.’

  “And because I have loved you overmuch you have said, ‘It is but the love of a blind man who knows not the beauty of one nor the ugliness of another. And it is the love of the tasteless who drinks vinegar even as wine. And it is the love of the impertinent and the overweening, for what stranger could be our mother and father and sister and brother?’

  “This you have said, and more. For often in the marketplace you pointed your fingers at me and said mockingly, ‘There goes the ageless one, the man without seasons, who at the noon hour plays games with our children and at eventide sits with our elders and assumes wisdom and understanding.’

  “And I said ‘I will love them more. Aye, even more. I will hide my love with seeming to hate, and disguise my tenderness as bitterness. I will wear an iron mask, and only when armed and mailed shall I seek them.’

  “Then I laid a heavy hand upon your bruises, and like a tempest in the night I thundered in your ears.

  “From the housetop I proclaimed you hypocrites, pharisees, tricksters, false and empty earth-bubbles.

  “The short-sighted among you I cursed for blind bats, and those too near the earth I likened to soulless moles.

  “The eloquent I pronounced fork-tongued, the silent, stone-lipped, and the simple and artless I called the dead never weary of death.

  “The seekers after world knowledge I condemned as offenders of the holy spirit and those who would naught but the spirit I branded as hunters of shadows who cast their nets in flat waters and catch but their own images.

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

  “It was love lashed by its own self that sp
oke. It was pride half slain that fluttered in the dust. It was my hunger for your love that raged from the housetop, while my own love, kneeling in silence, prayed your forgiveness.

  “But behold a miracle!

  “It was my disguise that opened your eyes, and my seeming to hate that woke your hearts.

  “And now you love me.

  “You love the swords that strike you and the arrows that crave your breast. For it comforts you to be wounded and only when you drink of your own blood can you be intoxicated.

  “Like moths that seek destruction in the flame you gather daily in my garden: and with faces uplifted and eyes enchanted you watch me tear the fabric of your days. And in whispers you say the one to the other, ‘He sees with the light of God. He speaks like the prophets of old. He unveils our souls and unlocks our hearts, and like the eagle that knows the way of foxes he knows our ways.’

  “Aye, in truth, I know your ways, but only as an eagle knows the ways of his fledglings. And I fain would disclose my secret. Yet in my need for your nearness I feign remoteness, and in fear of the ebbtide of your love I guard the floodgates of my love.”

  After saying these things the Forerunner covered his face with his hands and wept bitterly. For he knew in his heart that love humiliated in its nakedness is greater than love that seeks triumph in disguise; and he was ashamed.

  But suddenly he raised his head, and like one waking from sleep he outstretched his arms and said, “Night is over, and we children of night must die when dawn comes leaping upon the hills; and out of our ashes a mightier love shall rise. And it shall laugh in the sun, and it shall be deathless.”

  THE PROPHET (1923)

  CONTENTS

  The Coming of the Ship