Kahlil Gibran writes with unparalleled beauty.  I wanted to share with my readers all of my favorite quotes.  So I decided to combine them into a little poem for your reading pleasure.  I hope you enjoy!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                “Love is trembling happiness” 

Sitting in the meadow, the old man suffered with all his heart; shouting into the wind with these words   “Keep me away from the wisdom which does not cry, the philosophy which does not laugh and the greatness which does not bow before children.”   

Hearing a desperate cry, a butterfly slowly descended and whispered; “To understand the heart and mind of a person, look not at what he has already acheived, but what he aspires to do”. 

“We fear death, yet we long for slumber and beautiful dreams.”   “Just living isn’t enough,” said the butterfly, “one must also have freedom, sunshine, and a little flower.”  “And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.”   

The old man replied; “I prefer to be a dreamer among the humblest, with visions to be realized, than lord among those without dreams and desires.” “In the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures.”  ’But now; all is lost.’ 

Resting upon his shoulder it whispered in return;” What difference is there between us, save a restless dream that follows my soul but fears to come near you?”    

‘My heart’, he replied, ‘for I have given it long ago to both my true love and my work; now they are gone’.  The gentle whisper continued; “The giving and receiving of pleasure is a need and an ecstasy.”  “Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.” “Love one another, but make not a bond of love: Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.” To be able to look back upon ones life in satisfaction, is to live twice”  

The old man went on to say; ‘my saddened heart can no longer dream of a new day.’ “Of life’s two chief prizes, beauty and truth, I found the first in a loving heart and the second in a laborer’s hand.”; ‘now I have neither’.  And so the butterfly replied: “Yesterday is but today’s memory, tomorrow is today’s dream.”   ”Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you as by the attitude you bring to life; not so much by what happens to you as by the way your mind looks at what happens.” “Trust in dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity.” “… joy and sorrow are inseparable . . . together they come and when one sits alone with you . . . remember that the other is asleep upon your bed.” 

The old man spoke; “When you work you fulfill a part of earth’s furthest dream, assigned to you when that dream was born. And in keeping yourself with labour you are in truth loving life, And to love life through labour is to be intimate with life’s inmost secret.”  Wisdom ceases to be wisdom when it becomes too proud to weep, too grave to laugh, and too selfish to seek other than itself.”  ‘My work is now done’. 

Be happy with yourself old man, for “It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.”  ’Listen to the sound of my music’; “Music is the language of the spirit. It opens the secret of life bringing peace, abolishing strife.” ‘For me’, said the old man; ‘my sorrow is too much to bare my friend’.  ‘Always remember’, said the butterfly, “When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.” “All that spirits desire, spirits attain.”

Reflecting upon time; the old man smile at his previous delights; looking around the man could no longer see his friend; he could only sense his presence.