" ... 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.
Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup.
Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf.
Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone,
Even as the strings of a lute are alone though the quiver with the same music.
Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping.
For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.
And stand together yet not too near together;
For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow."
-- Khalil Gibran, a Lebanese-American artist, poet and writer (1883-1931)
My mother read this aloud at an engagement party for us in 2003. Quite moving, don't you think?
After she read it, Michael said: "Yeah, but can she still move in with me?"
Not sure why this is on my mind today; but it is.
1 comment:
This poem brings to mind the sense that ultimate reality is as much one as it is different, as much transcendent as it is immanent. We pine for unity and oneness as much as we pine for diversity and individuality. The two, however, do not fit logically together at the same time. Fortunately reality is not shackled by reason.
http://harmonist.us/
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