Collected Poetical Works of Kahlil Gibran

by Kahlil Gibran

  He did not utterly condemn the liar or the thief or the murderer, but He did utterly condemn the hypocrite whose face is masked and whose hand is gloved.

  Often I have pondered on the heart that shelters all who come from the wasteland to its sanctuary, yet against the hypocrite is closed and sealed.

  On a day as we rested with Him in the Garden of Pomegranates, I said to Him, “Master, you forgive and console the sinner and all the weak and the infirm save only the hypocrite alone.”

  And He said, “You have chosen your words well when you called the sinners weak and infirm. I do forgive them their weakness of body and their infirmity of spirit. For their failings have been laid upon them by their forefathers, or by the greed of their neighbours.

  “But I tolerate not the hypocrite, because he himself lays a yoke upon the guileless and the yielding.

  “Weaklings, whom you call sinners, are like the featherless young that fall from the nest. The hypocrite is the vulture waiting upon a rock for the death of the prey.

  “Weaklings are men lost in a desert. But the hypocrite is not lost. He knows the way yet he laughs between the sand and the wind.

  “For this cause I do not receive him.”

  Thus our Master spoke, and I did not understand. But I understand now.

  Then the hypocrites of the land laid hands upon Him and they judged Him; and in so doing they deemed themselves justified. For they cited the law of Moses in the Sanhedrim in witness and evidence against Him.

  And they who break the law at the rise of every dawn and break it again at sunset, brought about His death.

  MATTHEW

  The Sermon on the Mount

  One harvest day Jesus called us and His other friends to the hills. The earth was fragrant, and like the daughter of a king at her wedding-feast, she wore all her jewels. And the sky was her bridegroom.

  When we reached the heights Jesus stood still in the grove of the laurels, and He said, “Rest here, quiet your mind and tune your heart, for I have much to tell you.”

  Then we reclined on the grass, and the summer flowers were all about us, and Jesus sat in our midst.

  And Jesus said:

  “Blessed are the serene in spirit.

  “Blessed are they who are not held by possessions, for they shall be free.

  “Blessed are they who remember their pain, and in their pain await their joy.

  “Blessed are they who hunger after truth and beauty, for their hunger shall bring bread, and their thirst cool water.

  “Blessed are the kindly, for they shall be consoled by their own kindliness.

  “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall be one with God.

  “Blessed are the merciful, for mercy shall be in their portion.

  “Blessed are the peacemakers, for their spirit shall dwell above the battle, and they shall turn the potter’s field into a garden.

  “Blessed are they who are hunted, for they shall be swift of foot and they shall be winged.

  “Rejoice and be joyful, for you have found the kingdom of heaven within you. The singers of old were persecuted when they sang of that kingdom. You too shall be persecuted, and therein lies your honour, therein your reward.

  “You are the salt of the earth; should the salt lose its savour wherewith shall the food of man’s heart be salted?

  “You are the light of the world. Put not that light under a bushel. Let it shine rather from the summit, to those who seek the City of God.

  “Think not I came to destroy the laws of the scribes and the Pharisees; for my days among you are numbered and my words are counted, and I have but hours in which to fulfil another law and reveal a new covenant.

  “You have been told that you shall not kill, but I say unto you, you shall not be angry without a cause.

  “You have been charged by the ancients to bring your calf and your lamb and your dove to the temple, and to slay them upon the altar, that the nostrils of God may feed upon the odour of their fat, and that you may be forgiven your failings.

  “But I say unto you, would you give God that which was His own from the beginning; and would you appease Him whose throne is above the silent deep and whose arms encircle space?

  “Rather, seek out your brother and be reconciled unto him ere you seek the temple; and be a loving giver unto your neighbour. For in the soul of these God has builded a temple that shall not be destroyed, and in their heart He has raised an altar that shall never perish.

  “You have been told, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say unto you: Resist not evil, for resistance is food unto evil and makes it strong. And only the weak would revenge themselves. The strong of soul forgive, and it is honour in the injured to forgive.

  “Only the fruitful tree is shaken or stoned for food.

  “Be not heedful of the morrow, but rather gaze upon today, for sufficient for today is the miracle thereof.

  “Be not over-mindful of yourself when you give but be mindful of the necessity. For every giver himself receives from the Father, and that much more abundantly.

  “And give to each according to his need; for the Father gives not salt to the thirsty, nor a stone to the hungry, nor milk to the weaned.

  “And give not that which is holy to dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine. For with such gifts you mock them; and they also shall mock your gift, and in their hate would fain destroy you.

  “Lay not up for yourselves treasures that corrupt or that thieves may steal away. Lay up rather treasure which shall not corrupt or be stolen, and whose loveliness increases when many eyes behold it. For where your treasure is, your heart is also.

  “You have been told that the murderer shall be put to the sword, that the thief shall be crucified, and the harlot stoned. But I say unto you that you are not free from wrongdoing of the murderer and the thief and the harlot, and when they are punished in the body your own spirit is darkened.

  “Verily no crime is committed by one man or one woman. All crimes are committed by all. And he who pays the penalty may be breaking a link in the chain that hangs upon your own ankles. Perhaps he is paying with his sorrow the price for your passing joy.”

  Thus spake Jesus, and it was in my desire to kneel down and worship Him, yet in my shyness I could not move nor speak a word.

  But at last I spoke; and I said, “I would pray this moment, yet my tongue is heavy. Teach me to pray.”

  And Jesus said, “When you would pray, let your longing pronounce the words. It is in my longing now to pray thus:

  “Our Father in earth and heaven, sacred is Thy name.

  Thy will be done with us, even as in space.

  Give us of Thy bread sufficient for the day.

  In Thy compassion forgive us and enlarge us to forgive one another.

  Guide us towards Thee and stretch down Thy hand to us in darkness.

  For Thine is the kingdom, and in Thee is our power and our fulfilment.”

  And it was now evening, and Jesus walked down from the hills, and all of us followed Him. And as I followed I was repeating His prayer, and remembering all that He had said; for I knew that the words that had fallen like flakes that day must set and grow firm like crystals, and that wings that had fluttered above our heads were to beat the earth like iron hoofs.

  JOHN THE SON OF ZEBEDEE

  On the Various Appellations of Jesus

  You have remarked that some of us call Jesus the Christ, and some the Word, and others call Him the Nazarene, and still others the Son of Man.

  I will try to make these names clear in the light that is given me.

  The Christ, He who was in the ancient of days, is the flame of God that dwells in the spirit of man. He is the breath of life that visits us, and takes unto Himself a body like our bodies.

  He is the will of the Lord.

  He is the first Word, which would speak with our voice and live in our ear that we may heed and understand.

  And the Word of the Lord our God builded a house of flesh an
d bones, and was man like unto you and myself.

  For we could not hear the song of the bodiless wind nor see our greater self walking in the mist.

  Many times the Christ has come to the world, and He has walked many lands. And always He has been deemed a stranger and a madman.

  Yet the sound of His voice descended never to emptiness, for the memory of man keeps that which his mind takes no care to keep.

  This is the Christ, the innermost and the height, who walks with man towards eternity.

  Have you not heard of Him at the cross-roads of India? And in the land of the Magi, and upon the sands of Egypt?

  And here in your North Country your bards of old sang of Prometheus, the fire-bringer, he who was the desire of man fulfilled, the caged hope made free; and Orpheus, who came with a voice and a lyre to quicken the spirit in beast and man.

  And know you not of Mithra the king, and of Zoroaster the prophet of the Persians, who woke from man’s ancient sleep and stood at the bed of our dreaming?

  We ourselves become man anointed when we meet in the Temple Invisible, once every thousand years. Then comes one forth embodied, and at His coming our silence turns to singing.

  Yet our ears turn not always to listening nor our eyes to seeing.

  Jesus the Nazarene was born and reared like ourselves; His mother and father were like our parents, and He was a man.

  But the Christ, the Word, who was in the beginning, the Spirit who would have us live our fuller life, came unto Jesus and was with Him.

  And the Spirit was the versed hand of the Lord, and Jesus was the harp.

  The Spirit was the psalm, and Jesus was the turn thereof.

  And Jesus, the Man of Nazareth, was the host and the mouthpiece of the Christ, who walked with us in the sun and who called us His friends.

  In those days the hills of Galilee and her valleys heard but His voice. And I was a youth then, and trod in His path and pursued His footprints.

  I pursued His footprints and trod in His path, to hear the words of the Christ from the lips of Jesus of Galilee.

  Now you would know why some of us call Him the Son of Man.

  He Himself desired to be called by that name, for He knew the hunger and the thirst of man, and He beheld man seeking after His greater self.

  The Son of Man was Christ the Gracious, who would be with us all.

  He was Jesus the Nazarene who would lead His brothers to the Anointed One, even to the Word which was in the beginning with God.

  In my heart dwells Jesus of Galilee, the Man above men, the Poet who makes poets of us all, the Spirit who knocks at our door that we may wake and rise and walk out to meet truth naked and unencumbered.

  A YOUNG PRIEST OF CAPERNAUM

  Of Jesus the Magician

  He was a magician, warp and woof, and a sorcerer, a man who bewildered the simple by charms and incantations. And He juggled with the words of our prophets and with the sanctities of our forefathers.

  Aye, He even bade the dead be His witnesses, and the voiceless graves His forerunners and authority.

  He sought the women of Jerusalem and the women of the countryside with the cunning of the spider that seeks the fly; and they were caught in His web.

  For women are weak and empty-headed, and they follow the man who would comfort their unspent passion with soft and tender words. Were it not for these women, infirm and possessed by His evil spirit, His name would have been erased from the memory of man.

  And who were the men who followed Him?

  They were of the horde that are yoked and trodden down. In their ignorance and fear they would never have rebelled against their rightful masters. But when He promised them high stations in His kingdom of mirage, they yielded to His fantasy as clay to the potter.

  Know you not, the slave in his dreaming would always be master; and the weakling would be a lion?

  The Galilean was a conjuror and a deceiver, a man who forgave the sins of all sinners that He might hear Hail and Hosanna from their unclean mouths; and who fed the faint heart of the hopeless and the wretched that He might have ears for His voice and a retinue at His command.

  He broke the Sabbath with those who break that He might gain the support of the lawless; and He spoke ill of our high priests that He might win attention in Sanhedrim, and by opposition increase His fame.

  I have said often that I hated that man. Ay, I hate Him more than I hate the Romans who govern our country. Even His coming was from Nazareth, a town cursed by our prophets, a dunghill of the Gentiles, from which no good shall ever proceed.

  A RICH LEVI IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF NAZARETH

  Jesus the Good Carpenter

  He was a good carpenter. The doors He fashioned were never unlocked by thieves, and the windows he made were always ready to open to the east wind and to the west.

  And He made chests of cedar wood, polished and enduring, and ploughs and pitchforks strong and yielding to the hand.

  And He carved lecterns for our synagogues. He carved them out of the golden mulberry; and on both sides of the support, where the sacred book lies, He chiselled wings outspreading; and under the support, heads of bulls and doves, and large-eyed deer.

  All this He wrought in the manner of the Chaldeans and the Greeks. But there was that in His skill which was neither Chaldean nor Greek.

  Now this my house was builded by many hands thirty years ago. I sought builders and carpenters in all the towns of Galilee. They had each the skill and the art of building, and I was pleased and satisfied with all that they did.

  But come now, and behold two doors and a window that were fashioned by Jesus of Nazareth. They in their stability mock at all else in my house.

  See you not that these two doors are different from all other doors? And this window opening to the east, is it not different from other windows?

  All my doors and windows are yielding to the years save these which He made. They alone stand strong against the elements.

  And see those cross-beams, how he placed them; and these nails, how they are driven from one side of the board, and then caught and fastened so firmly upon the other side.

  And what is passing strange is that that labourer who was worthy the wages of two men received but the wage of one man; and that same labourer now is deemed a prophet in Israel.

  Had I known then that this youth with saw and plane was a prophet, I would have begged Him to speak rather than work, and then I would have overpaid Him for his words.

  And now I still have many men working in my house and fields. How shall I know the man whose own hand is upon his tool, from the man upon whose hand God lays His hand?

  Yea, how shall I know God’s hand?

  A SHEPHERD IN SOUTH LEBANON

  A Parable

  It was late summer when He and three other men first walked upon that road yonder. It was evening, and He stopped and stood there at the end of the pasture.

  I was playing upon my flute, and my flock was grazing all around me. When He stopped I rose and walked over and stood before Him.

  And He asked me, “Where is the grave of Elijah? Is it not somewhere near this place?”

  And I answered Him, “It is there, Sir, underneath that great heap of stones. Even unto this day every passer-by brings a stone and places it upon the heap.”

  And He thanked me and walked away, and His friends walked behind Him.

  And after three days Ganaliel who was also a shepherd, said to me that the man who had passed by was a prophet in Judea; but I did not believe him. Yet I thought of that man for many a moon.

  When spring came Jesus passed once more by this pasture, and this time He was alone.

  I was not playing on my flute that day for I had lost a sheep and I was bereaved, and my heart was downcast within me.

  And I walked towards Him and stood still before Him, for I desired to be comforted.

  And He looked at me and said, “You do not play upon your flute this day. Whence is the sorrow in your eyes?” ý

>   And I answered, “A sheep from among my sheep is lost. I have sought her everywhere but I find her not. And I know not what to do.”

  And He was silent for a moment. Then He smiled upon me and said, “Wait here awhile and I will find your sheep.” And He walked away and disappeared among the hills.

  After an hour He returned, and my sheep was close behind Him. And as He stood before me, the sheep looked up into His face even as I was looking. Then I embraced her inn gladness.

  And He put His hand upon my shoulder and said, “From this day you shall love this sheep more than any other in your flock, for she was lost and now she is found.”

  And again I embraced my sheep in gladness, and she came close to me, and I was silent.

  But when I raised my head to thank Jesus, He was already walking afar off, and I had not the courage to follow Him.

  JOHN THE BAPTIST

  He Speaks in Prison to His Disciples

  I am not silent in this foul hole while the voice of Jesus is heard on the battlefield. I am not to be held nor confined while He is free.

  They tell me the vipers are coiling round His loins, but I answer: The vipers shall awaken His strength, and He shall crush them with His heel.

  I am only the thunder of His lightning. Though I spoke first, His was the word and the purpose.

  They caught me unwarned. Perhaps they will lay hands on Him also. Yet not before He has pronounced His word in full. And He shall overcome them.

  His chariot shall pass over them, and the hoofs of His horses shall trample them, and He shall be triumphant.

  They shall go forth with lance and sword, but He shall meet them with the power of the Spirit.

  His blood shall run upon the earth, but they themselves shall know the wounds and the pain thereof, and they shall be baptized in their tears until they are cleansed of their sins.

  Their legions shall march towards His cities with rams of iron, but on their way they shall be drowned in the River Jordan.

  And His walls and His towers shall rise higher, and the shields of His warriors shall shine brighter in the sun.