My Gratitude to….Kahlil Gibran

My Gratitude to….Kahlil Gibran

Many of you have heard Kahlil Gibran's name and know him for his quotes. But there is a lot more beyond his quotes. Thanks to my college offering me with their “whatever” share of readings, I got tired and picked up The Collected Works of Kahlil Gibran from my cupboard.

I browsed through the index and reached for his book “The Madman” and began reading through them. One after another, I swiftly turned the pages. He touched me right where my soul rested. It was as if he knew the pain that was there inside, trying to fade away, and he through his poetry and proses, led me silently on my very own way..

He writes in “My Friend”:

“ Thou canst not understand my seafaring thoughts, nor would I have thee understand. I would be at sea alone….

When it is day with thee, my friend, it is night with me; yet even then I speak of the noontide that dances upon the hills and of the purple shadow that steals its way across the valley; for thou canst not hear the songs of my darkness nor see my wings beating against the stars -- and I fain would not have thee hear or see. I would be with night alone.”

Yes..his lines touched me, for I felt how my best friend would hide away her pain, sorrow from me, as I took her for granted, not knowing that she too had her own share of emotions and experiences she underwent.

I have been reading him past 3 days and he has come to be this invisible and standing strong like rock companion for me. And it feels great to have fallen in love with him.
I have a lot to say, and my appreciation for him is ineffable. All I’ll do is leave you with a story of his from his most famous book “The Prophet”:

Then a woman said, "Speak  to us of Joy and Sorrow."

And he answered:

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.

Is not the cup that hold your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter's oven?

And is not the lute that soothes your spirit, the very wood that was hollowed with knives?

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.

When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.

Some of you say, "Joy is greater than sorrow," and others say, "Nay, sorrow is the greater."

But I say unto you, they are inseparable.

Together they come, and when one sits alone with you at your board, remember that the other is asleep upon your bed.

Verily you are suspended like scales between your sorrow and your joy.

Only when you are empty are you at standstill and balanced.

When the treasure-keeper lifts you to weigh his gold and his silver, needs must your joy or your sorrow rise or fall".

PS: After having read through philosophers like Plato, Descartes, Kant, Socrates....Gibran is one philosopher, painter, poet who touches me immensely, for the way he writes honestly, yet simply, revealing the 'truths of life' that which we all know, but perhaps never reflected through! Thank you Gibran for penning down your beautiful thoughts!:)