|
 
Tears
And Laughter
Kahlil
Gibran
From
his book tears and laughter
Foreword
I WOULD
NOT exchange the laughter of my heart for
the fortunes of the multitudes;
nor would I be content with converting my
tears, invited by my agonized self,
into calm. It is my fervent hope that my
whole life on this earth will ever be
tears and laughter.
Tears
that purify my heart and reveal to me the
secret of life and its mystery,
Laughter
that brings me closer to my fellow
men;
Tears
with which I join the
broken-hearted,
Laughter
that symbolizes joy over my very
existence.
I
prefer death through happiness a
thousandfold to life in vain and in
despair.
An
eternal hunger for love and beauty is my
desire; I know now that those
who possess bounty alone are naught but
miserable, but to my spirit
the sighs of loversare more soothing than
music of the lyre.
When
night comes, the flower folds its petals
and slumbers with Love,
and at dawn, it opens its lips to receive
the Sun's kisses,
bespeckled by quick dartings of clouds
which come, but surely go.
'The
life of flowers is hope and fulfillment
and peace; tears and laughter.
The
water disappears and ascends until it
turns into clouds that gather upon
the hills and valleys; and when it meets
the breeze, it falls down upon the
fields
and joins the brook tbat sings its way
toward the sea.
The
life of clouds is a life of farewell and a
life of reunion; tears and
laughter.
Thus
the spirit separates itself from the body
and walks into the world of substance,
passing like clouds over the villages of
sorrow and mountains of happiness
unit it meets the breeze of death and
returns to the starting place,
the
endless ocean of love and beauty which is
God.
The
Songs Of Tears and Laughter
 
 
Midi SoulSong
© Bruce De Boer
BruceDeBoer
Midis
|