I cannot remember when I first started reading Khalil Gibran poetry, but I love it. Somehow it tends to circle back to me every few months, and often right when I can appreciate it the most. This week has been one of those times.
Khalil Gibran 1883-1931
Third best selling poet of all time.
Third best selling poet of all time.
Dark, stormy days like we’ve enjoyed this week are perfect for a poetry infusion, don’t you think? Add in a homemade latte and some toasty croissants with strawberry jam… and it’s pretty much pure indulgence.
Following are a few snippets of what I love from this man… Remember these are snippets, just parts of longer poems. And I urge you to find the full text on your own. Read them curled up under a soft blanket or stretched out beneath the massaging sun…
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This first one touches painfully and honestly on every aspect of motherhood. It reminds me of advice I once received before my youngest daughter underwent her first brain surgery, to regard myself only as a “vessel” for love and healing. Not as the actual Source of love and healing. This passage has helped me let go in recent years too, for the peace of mind of both of my sweet girls… It reminds me that love is not selfish and that life is constantly moving forward..
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.
They came through you but not from you
and though they are with you
yet they belong not to you.
Speaking of making room to breathe and grow… Of letting go just a little bit… It applies to romance and marriage too. I know from experience that insisting on too much is unkind. Demanding too much is unproductive. And too much too much is just smothering to both of you. Those lessons are good in and of themselves, but Gibran says it so musically…
But let there be spaces in your togetherness
and let the winds of the heavens dance between you.
Love one another but make not a bond of love;
let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Everything passes… Keep the long view and anticipate beauty… I want my friend Melissa to internalize this next one…
Sadness is but a wall between two gardens.
Have you read The Secret yet? These principles are cropping up everywhere I look.
All that spirits desire, spirits attain.
This next one is startling if you think about it…
We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them.
On poetry, by the poet…
Poetry is a deal of joy and pain and wonder,
with a dash of the dictionary.
Faith… Difficult to remember sometimes, but faith is a spiritual and emotional choice independent from reason, logic, and every other method of the intellect. Faith is a condition of the heart that you can determine yourself to enjoy. Faith is also something you can encourage in others, by letting them know they are not alone and that their hopes are not futile.
Doubt is a pain too lonely to know
that faith is his twin brother.
Faith is a knowledge within the heart,
beyond the reach of proof.
And last is perhaps my favorite Gibran snippet. Like icing on the cake I happened upon some representative artwork to illustrate these beautiful lines… I am day dreaming of the soft green grass that will soon be growing from this week’s torrential downpour Oklahoma is on the road to recovery from two years of serious drought, and the temperatures are coaxing us outdoors longer and longer each day…
And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet
and the winds long to play with your hair.
Isn’t this wonderful?? It is a painting by Kayann Ausherman.
I found this generous artist via Pinterest and was lucky enough
to make contact with her and gain permission to use this colorful image.
Kayann is an inspirational artist in Kansas
who runs the most luscious Etsy shop called From Victory Road
You can find her on Facebook and also follow her blog right here.
Really lovely stuff. Thanks for your permission to use this beautiful painting, Kenyann!
So very nice to meet you.
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I hope you enjoyed that, friends! I love to temper long, heavy reading projects with doses of poetry like this. Particularly when the poet is time tested and uplifting. It teases my soul pleasantly for sure.
Who are your favorite poets?
xoxoxoxo
What a beautiful post Marie! I am so honored to be included in it! I love all of the quotes, there were some I was not familiar with…I feel some more painting ideas coming on! Thank you!
No, thank YOU! Your artwork really lifted my spirits. All of it is beautiful. I will be watching to see what you do next!
Marie, thank you for today’s post. I, too, love all the quotes! I’m off to the library this afternoon and Khalil Gibran is on my list for this week!
Lottie, I am so glad you enjoyed this! It was purely indulgent for me… LOL I hope you found the Prophet or something just as lovely. xoxo Thank you for stopping in!
Marie, I was amazed our library didn’t have The Prophet, so instead of waiting for interlibrary loan, I ordered a paperback copy from Amazon for $5. When it came, I was shocked that it was the little book ALL of us read back in the late 60s! (when we were teenagers). I’ll read it a couple more times and then donate it to the library!
These are beautiful, truthful passages. I have begun internalizing that first one, about the children not being ours, and it is so wonderful and freeing.
I read “The Fault in Our Stars” recently and was introduced to the concept that we are the universe experiencing itself, and that the universe takes joy in our joy. Same ideas as here, I think.
Happy Monday.
Happy Monday indeed! You have given me TWO lovely book recommendations today, and I love ya for it.
I would love to talk to you more about the notion of borrowing and tending our children, not “having” them… Few people seem to grasp that.
Yes, certainly, joy breeds joy… Thank you so much for stopping in and chatting V! xoxo
It allowed me just to love them as they are (or you know, most times, to try to at least). It set me up for that path, rather than a love that is possessive and risks becoming devouring. Their triumphs and failures don’t reflect on me, so all the anxiety leeks out of my love. Times when I do feel most stressed as a mother, it’s because my daughter is reflecting back to me something I don’t like about myself. So if I can practice self-love and self-compassion, and hold that space where my daughter is her own, not my own, it can break that cycle. I don’t know if I’m making sense.
dear friend ~ I am most certainly a Kahlil Gibran fan, although I would not have been save a former client of mine. She told bizarre and riveting secrets in her psychotherapy sessions, and at times I had to work diligently to regulate my emotional reaction to her narrative. However, when she was finished with her work, she gave me her Kahlil Gibran book collection as a gift – left it in a box at my place of business and moved to the East Coast. Since then, I have thanked the Heavens for his words, and I thank them again for you sharing them with your readers. Love always, Kelly
My gosh… What a gift. What an impression that must have made on you. And what an impression you must have made on her. I can only imagine how tenderly and sturdily you helped her, Kelly.
Something special about Gibran (to me) is how timeless and universal it all feels. Maybe it’s his native language and ethnicity, I don’t know, but I always expect it to be much much older than it is. Ancient. He had a gift fr sure!
Thank you for stopping in sweet Kelly! I always love it when you do.