posted March 31, 2006 05:38 PM         

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chapter from "The Prophet" .. about Love ..
Kahlil Gibran .. 1883 - 1931 .. Lebanese Poet , Philosopher, Artist
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People of Orphalese, of what can I speak save of that which is even now moving within your souls?

Then said Almitra, Speak to us of Love.

And he raised his head and looked upon the people,
and there fell a stillness upon them.

And with a great voice he said:

When love beckons to you, follow him,
Though his ways are hard and steep.

And when his wings enfold you yield to him,
Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.

And when he speaks to you believe in him,
Though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste to the garden.

For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. Even as he is for your growth so he is for your pruning.

Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun,
So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth.

Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself.
He threshes you to make you naked.
He sifts you to free you from your husks.
He grinds you to whiteness.
He kneads you untill you are pliant;

And then he assigns you to his sacred fire,
that you may become sacred bread for God's sacred feast

All these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart,
and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life's heart.

But if in your fear you would seek only love's peace and love's pleasure,
Then it be better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love's threshing-floor,
Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh,
but not all of your laughter,
and weep,
but not all of your tears.

Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself.
Love possesses not nor would be possessed;
For love is sufficient unto love.

When you love you should not say, "God is in my heart,"
but rather, "I am in the heart of God."
And think not you can direct the course of love,
for love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.

Love has no other desire but to fulfil itself.
But if you love and must neeeds have desires,
let these be your desires:

To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.
To know the pain of too much tenderness.
To be wounded by your own understanding of love;
And to bleed willingly and joyfully.
To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;
To rest at the noon hour and meditate love's ecstasy;
To return home at eventide with gratitude;

And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips.

posted March 31, 2006 07:23 PM         

May the Universe grant that I shall never be a denizen of that "seasonless world".....

And thanks for the CJ b-day wishes He was an ecstatic boy with over $140 worth of gift cards Got school portraits back this week (for the school annual) -- turned out really well, I shall scan..... perhaps later, am working on some Omnipage stuff tonite.....

posted March 31, 2006 08:43 PM         

This is one of my favourite passages-and I have a beautiful Bee and Flower painting to represent it!

On Pleasure....

And now you ask in your heart, "How shall we distinguish that which is good in pleasure from that which is not good?"

Go to your fields and your gardens, and you shall learn that it is the pleasure of the bee to gather honey of the flower...

But it is also the pleasure of the flower to yield its honey to the bee.

For to the bee a flower is a fountain of life...

And to the flower a bee is a messenger of love...

And to both, bee and flower, the giving and the receiving of pleasure is a need and an ecstasy.

People of Orphalese, be in your pleasures like the flowers and the bees.

GemStar

posted April 01, 2006 01:37 AM         

" Think not that you can direct the course of love, for love if it finds you worthy directs your course"

posted April 01, 2006 06:21 AM         

On BEAUTY....

All these things have you said of beauty.

Yet in truth you spoke not of her but of needs unsatisfied,

And beauty is not a need but an ecstasy.

It is not a mouth thirsting nor an empty hand stretched forth,

But rather a heart enflamed and a soul enchanted.

It is not the image you would see nor the song you would hear,

But rather an image you see, though you close your eyes and a song you hear, though you shut your ears.

It is not the sap within the furrowed bark, nor a wing attached to a claw,

But rather a garden forever in bloom and a flock of angels forever in flight.

People of Orphalese, beauty is life when life unveils her holy face.

But you are life and you are the veil.

Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror.

But you are eternity and your are the mirror.

posted October 28, 2006 12:23 PM         

* hi .. G.S. .. hope things going ok for you at mo. .. *
'till later .. :-)
H§D