T H E L I F E O F T H E S O U L
169
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Speak not of peoples and laws and kingdoms,
for the whole earth is my birthplace
and all people are my brothers and sisters.
Go from me,
for you are taking away life—
offering repentance and
bringing needless words.
K A H L I L G I B R A N ’ S L I T T L E B O O K O F L I F E
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THE FORERUNNER
You are your own forerunner, and the towers
you have built are but the foundation of your
Giant Self.
And that Self too shall be a foundation.
And I too am my own forerunner, for the
long shadow stretching before me at sunrise
shall gather under my feet at the noon hour.
Yet another sunrise shall lay another shadow
before me, and that also shall be gathered at
another noon.
Always have we been our own forerunners,
and always shall we be. And all that we have
gathered and shall gather shall be but seeds
for fields yet unploughed. We are the fields
and those who plough, the gatherers and the
gathered.
When you were a wandering desire in the
mist, I too was there, a wandering desire. Then
we sought one another, and out of our eagerness
dreams were born. And dreams were time limit-
less, and dreams were space without measure.
T H E L I F E O F T H E S O U L
171
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And when you were a silent word upon Life’s
quivering lips, I too was there, another silent
word. Then Life uttered us and we came down
the years throbbing with memories of yesterday
and with longing for tomorrow, for yesterday
was death conquered and tomorrow was birth
pursued.
And now we are in God’s hands. You are a
sun in his right hand and I an earth in his left
hand. Yet you are not more, shining, than I,
shone upon.
And we, sun and earth, are but the beginning
of a greater sun and a greater earth. And always
shall we be the beginning.
You are your own forerunner, you—the
stranger passing by the gate of my garden.
And I too am my own forerunner, though
I sit in the shadows of my trees and seem
motionless.
K A H L I L G I B R A N ’ S L I T T L E B O O K O F L I F E
172
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WALK FACING THE SUN
You who walk facing the sun,
what images drawn on the earth can hold you?
You who travel with the wind,
what weather vane shall direct your course?
What human law shall bind you
if you break your yoke,
but upon no one’s prison door?
What laws shall you fear if you dance,
but stumble against no one’s iron chains?
And who shall bring you to judgment
if you tear off your garment
yet leave it in no one’s path?
People of Orphalese,
you can muffle the drum,
and you can loosen the strings of the lyre,
but who shall command
the skylark not to sing?
T H E L I F E O F T H E S O U L
173
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SOUL’S DEWDROP
The image of the morning sun in a dewdrop is
not less than the sun.
The reflection of life in your soul is not less
than life.
The dewdrop mirrors the light because it is
one with light, and you reflect life because you
and life are one.
The dewdrop rounding its sphere in the dusk
of the lily is not unlike yourself gathering your
soul in the heart of God.
K A H L I L G I B R A N ’ S L I T T L E B O O K O F L I F E
174
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ROOTS BETWEEN
You are but roots
between the dark sod
and the moving heavens.
And oftentimes have I seen you
rising to dance with the light,
but I have also seen you shy.
All roots are shy.
They have hidden their hearts so long
that they know not what to
do with their hearts.
T H E L I F E O F T H E S O U L
175
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SELF IS A SEA
Your hearts know in silence the secrets of the
days and the nights.
But your ears thirst for the sound of your
heart’s knowledge. You would know in words
that which you have always known in thought.
You would touch with your fingers the naked
body of your dreams. And it is well you should.
The hidden wellspring of your soul must
needs rise and run murmuring to the sea. And
the treasure of your infinite depths would be
revealed to your eyes. But let there be no scales
to weigh your unknown treasure. And seek
not the depths of your knowledge with staff or
sounding line. For self is a sea boundless and
measureless.
Say not, “I have found the truth,” but rather,
“I have found a truth.”
K A H L I L G I B R A N ’ S L I T T L E B O O K O F L I F E
176
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Say not, “I have found the path of the soul.”
Say rather, “I have met the soul walking upon
my path.”
For the soul walks upon all paths.
The soul walks not upon a line, neither does
it grow like a reed. The soul unfolds itself like a
lotus of countless petals.
T H E L I F E O F T H E S O U L
177
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THE LONGING OF THE GIANT SELF
Pity that the stags cannot teach swiftness to the
turtles.
In your longing for your Giant Self lies your
goodness, and that longing is in all of you.
But in some of you that longing is a tor-
rent rushing with might to the sea, carrying the
secrets of the hillsides and the songs of the forest.
And in others it is a flat stream that loses
itself in angles and bends and lingers before it
reaches the shore.
But let not the one who longs much say to
the one who longs little, “Wherefore are you
slow and halting?”
K A H L I L G I B R A N ’ S L I T T L E B O O K O F L I F E
178
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ANGELS AND DEVILS
I too am visited
by angels and devils,
but I get rid of them.
When it is an angel,
I pray an old prayer
a
nd he is bored.
When it is a devil,
I commit an old sin
and he passes me by.
T H E L I F E O F T H E S O U L
179
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BLESSED MOUNTAIN
You may have heard of
the Blessed Mountain.
It is the highest mountain in our world.
Should you reach the summit
you would have only one desire,
and that to descend and
be with those who dwell
in the deepest valley.
That is why it is called
the Blessed Mountain.
K A H L I L G I B R A N ’ S L I T T L E B O O K O F L I F E
180
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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.
T H E L I F E O F T H E S O U L
181
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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?
K A H L I L G I B R A N ’ S L I T T L E B O O K O F L I F E
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It is more fragrant than jasmine.
What voice could enslave it?
It is as heart-bound
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?
T H E L I F E O F T H E S O U L
183
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SOURCES OF THE SELECTIONS
Spirits Rebellious (1908) SR
The Broken Wings (1912) BW
A Tear and a Smile (1914) TS
The Procession (1918) TP
The Madman (1918) M
“My Countrymen” (1920s) MC
The Forerunner (1920) F
The Prophet (1923) P
Sand and Foam (1926) SF
“To Young Americans of Syrian Origin”
(1926) YA
Jesus The Son of Man (1928) JSM
The Wanderer (1932) W
The Garden of the Prophet (1933) GP
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Selection Notes
LISTENING TO NATURE’S LIFE
The Law of Nature. SR
Said a Blade of Grass. M
Three Dogs. W
Shadows. M
Song of the Rain. TS
A Hyena and a Crocodile. W
Two Oysters. W
Trees Are Poems. SF
The Red Earth. W
The Full Moon. W
The Supreme Ant. M
The Pomegranate. M
Solitude. SF
Living Water. P
Other Seas. F
The River. W
Contentment and Thrift. SF
The Lotus-Heart. JSM. “Jonathan: Among the
Water-lilies.”
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The Shadow. W
The Serpent and the Lark. F. “The Scholar and
the Poet”
Frogs: On the Nature of Disturbance. W
Song of the Flower. TS
Spring in Lebanon. BW
BEAUTY AND THE SONG OF LIFE
Life’s Purpose. SF
Singing. SF
Secrets of the Beauty of Life. SR. “Khalil the
Heretic.”
The Poet. TS
Art and Life. F
Pleasure Is a Freedom Song. P
Singing. GP
Before the Throne of Beauty. TS
The Flute. TP (editor's translation from the
Arabic)
Beauty. P
Soul of the Dancer. W
An Hour Devoted to Beauty and Love. TS
K A H L I L G I B R A N ’ S L I T T L E B O O K O F L I F E
186
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LIFE’S HUMAN JOURNEY
Your Daily Life Is Your Temple. P
Burying Dead Selves. M
Giving Up a Kingdom. F
Possessions. P
Treasure. SF
The Value of Time. SF
With Senses Continually Made New. JSM. “A
Philosopher: On Wonder and Beauty.”
Work Is Love. P
Builders of Bridges. W
Renown. SF
Life Is a Procession. SF
Song of Humanity. TS
Singing in the Silence. GP
Modesty. P
Between. SF
Ignorance. SF
When You Meet a Friend. P
Strangers to Life. SF
Life Is a Resolution. MC
To American Immigrants from the Middle East.
YA
S E L E C T I O N N O T E S
187
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SEASONS OF LIFE
Changing with the Seasons. BW
No Miracles Beyond the Seasons. JSM. “Melachi
of Babylon: An Astronomer.”
Youth and Knowledge. SF
Seasons. GP
Autumn and Spring. SF
Time. P
All Your Hours Are Wings. P
Be Dark. SF
Day and Night. GP
Shell-Life. SF
Tides of Breath. P
Shoreless Without a Self. GP
Finding Fault. SF
Every Year I Had Waited for Spring . . . JSM.
“Rachel: A Woman Disciple.”
PARADOXICAL LIFE
Life Comes Walking. GP
Talk. SF
A Tale of Two Tales. W
Confession. SF
K A H L I L G I B R A N ’ S L I T T L E B O O K O F L I F E
188
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Yesterday and Today. TS
Gifts of the Earth. P
Giving and Gaining. P
High and Low. P
Seeking. SF
Freedom. P
Limits. SF
Owl Eyes. P
Voices. SF
Ocean and Foam. P
Blessing Darkness. P
Agreement. SF
Jesus and Pan. JSM. “Sarkis: An Old Greek
Shepherd Called the Madman.”
THE LIFE OF THE SOUL
Resurrection of Life. JSM. “Nicodemus the Poet:
On Fools and Jugglers.”
A Fragment. SF
The Greater Sea. M
Truth Is Like the Stars. SR
Have Mercy on Me, My Soul. TS
Trust the Dreams. P
S E L E C T I O N N O T E S
189
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The Greater Self. F
Rising. SF
Children of Space. P
Leave Me, My Blamer. TS
The Forerunner. F
Walk Facing the Sun. P
Soul’s Dewdrop. GP
Roots Between. GP
Self Is a Sea. P
The Longing of the Giant Self. P
Angels and Devils. SF
Blessed Mountain. SF
Song of the Soul. TS
K A H L I L G I B R A N ’ S L I T T L E B O O K O F L I F E
190
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About the Author
Dates from the life of Gibran Khalil Gibran, the
author’s full Arabic name, which due to a regis-
tration spelling mistake at his first school in the
United States was changed from the usual spell-
ing to “Kahlil.”
1883:
Born in Bsharri, a village in the north
of Lebanon.
1895:
Gibran’s mother immigrates to
Boston with her four children, hop-
ing to flee poverty and unhappi-
ness, while her husband remains in
Lebanon, imprisoned for embezzling
from the government.
1898:
Returns to Lebanon to study Arabic
and French at a Maronite-run pre-
paratory school in Beirut. By some
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accounts, his mother wants to remove
him from unsavory artistic influences
in Boston.
1902:
Returns to Boston. In fifteen months’
time, he loses his mother, sister, and
half-brother to tuberculosis.
1904:
Through photographer Fred Holland
Day meets Mary Haskell, a school
headmistress, who becomes his
patron, muse, editor, and possible
lover. Publishes several poems in
prose gathered later under the title A
Tear and a Smile.
1908-10: Funded by Mary, he attends art school