Khalil Gibran

And a youth said, "Speak to us of Friendship
" Your friend is your needs answered
He is your field which you sow with love and reap with thanksgiving
And he is your board and your fireside

In the ancient days, when the first quiver of speech came to my lips,
I ascended the holy mountain and spoke unto God, saying, "Master,
I am thy slave
Thy hidden will is my law and I shall obey thee for ever more

And the weaver said, "Speak to us of Clothes
" And he answered:
Your clothes conceal much of your beauty, yet they hide not the unbeautiful
And though you seek in garments the freedom of privacy you may find in them a harn...

And an orator said, "Speak to us of Freedom
" And he answered:
At the city gate and by your fireside I have seen you prostrate yourself and worship your own freedom,
Even as slaves humble themselves before a tyrant and pra...

And one of the elders of the city said, "Speak to us of Good and Evil
" And he answered:
Of the good in you I can speak, but not of the evil
For what is evil but good tortured by its own hunger and thirst

And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said, "Speak to us of Children
" And he said:
Your children are not your children
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself

Then said a rich man, "Speak to us of Giving
" And he answered:
You give but little when you give of your possessions
It is when you give of yourself that you truly give

And a merchant said, "Speak to us of Buying and Selling
" And he answered and said:
To you the earth yields her fruit, and you shall not want if you but know how to fill your hands
It is in exchanging the gifts of the eart...

Then one of the judges of the city stood forth and said, "Speak to us of Crime and Punishment
" And he answered saying:
It is when your spirit goes wandering upon the wind,
That you, alone and unguarded, commit a wrong unt...

Where are you, my beloved
Are you in that little Paradise, watering the flowers who look upon you As infants look upon the breast of their mothers
Or are you in your chamber where the shrine of Virtue has been placed in your honor, and u...

In the stillest hour of the night, as I lay half asleep, my seven selves sat together and thus conversed in whisper:
First Self:
Here, in this madman,
I have dwelt all these years, with naught to do but renew his pain by day and rec...

Then an old man, a keeper of an inn, said, "Speak to us of Eating and Drinking
" And he said:
Would that you could live on the fragrance of the earth, and like an air plant be sustained by the light
But since you must kill...