from the viewpoints of many different people
who knew him, some mentioned in the Bible,
others not (like an old shepherd, an astrologer,
and a neighbor and friend of Mary). Hearing
their multiple (and sometimes conflicting) stories
shows us that, for Gibran, Jesus was not a figure
that could be encapsulated in any one creed or
contained within the walls of any one church.
As Gibran writes in one of the selections con-
tained in this book:
Once every hundred years Jesus of Nazareth
meets Jesus of the Christian
in a garden among the hills of Lebanon.
I N T R O D U C T I O N
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And they talk long.
And each time Jesus of Nazareth goes away
saying to Jesus of the Christian,
“My friend, I fear we shall never, never agree.”
Second, as Dr. Phares writes above, the
Maronites, and Gibran in particular, were strong
believers in the self-determination of the Syrian
people. The word Syrian here was used in a cul-
tural sense, since the boundaries of the state of
Syria were not set until after the First World War.
Gibran worked for various “Syrian” causes before
the end of war, which he saw as an opportunity
for his people to free themselves from a cor-
rupt Ottoman empire. Like many of his contem-
poraries, he felt betrayed by the Sykes-Picott
Agreement in which the victorious Western pow-
ers essentially divided the post-Ottoman Middle
East into nation states for their own influence
and convenience. We are still living with the con-
sequences of this a hundred years later.
Gibran’s deep love for his native country, his
belief in the essential goodness of its people, his
connection to its land and nature shine through
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many of these selections. In one originally
entitled “To Young Americans of Syrian Origin,”
published in 1926, Gibran writes:
“I believe that you can say to Emerson and
Whitman and James, ‘In my veins runs the blood
of the poets and wise men of old, and it is my
desire to come to you and receive, but I shall not
come with empty hands.’”
On the actual editing: it is clear that Gibran
was helped with his grammar and punctuation
by various people, particularly his longtime
muse Mary Haskell. As the way we read has
changed over the past hundred years, so has
grammar, so I have re-punctuated or re-lined
many selections in order to bring out the rhythm
of Gibran’s voice for the modern reader.
As far as Gibran’s use of gender-inclusive
or -exclusive terms goes, I have mostly taken a
hands-off approach. Gibran often refers to God
as “he,” but he also refers to Life as “she” and
makes frequent references to “goddesses.” The
one exception to this policy is that I have sub-
stituted “humanity” for “mankind.” It does not
disturb the rhythm of Gibran’s voice, is more
I N T R O D U C T I O N
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faithful to the underlying (and gender neutral)
Arabic word he was thinking of, and is a more
accurate way of including us all.
In selecting the material for this book, I
have placed well-known sayings of Gibran next
to lesser known ones, organized by the vari-
ous views of “life” that he expressed. Some of
Gibran’s sayings are comforting and easy to
understand, some puzzling, some disturbing.
Like many Middle Eastern mystics, he seems to
have felt that periods of being puzzled or dis-
turbed were as important as those of comfort
to help bring balance and healing to his own
somewhat chaotic personal life, as well as to the
lives of his readers. Perhaps this willingness to
embrace all of life has something to do with his
enduring appeal for us.
—Neil Douglas-Klotz
Fife, Scotland
June 2017
K A H L I L G I B R A N ’ S L I T T L E B O O K O F L I F E
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1
Listening to
Nature’s Life
Taking time to listen to the natural
world reveals a new dimension of being
human. It is as if all of nature were
already within us, reminding us of our
connection to the one life we share.
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THE LAW OF NATURE
Before the throne of freedom, the trees rejoice
with the frolicsome breeze and enjoy the rays of
the sun and the beams of the moon.
Through the ears of freedom the birds whis-
per, and around freedom they flutter to the
music of the brooks.
Throughout the sky of freedom the flowers
breathe their fragrance, and before freedom’s
eyes they smile when day comes.
Everything lives on earth according to the
law of nature, and from that law emerges the
glory and joy of liberty.
Yet humanity denied itself this fortune,
because it set for the God -given soul a limited
and earthly law of its own.
It made for itself strict rules and built a nar-
row and painful prison in which it secluded
humanity’s affections and desires. It dug out a
deep grave in which it buried humanity’s heart
and purpose.
If individuals, through the dictates of their
souls, declare their withdrawal from society and
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violate the law, their fellows will say they are
rebels worthy of exile or infamous creatures
worthy only of execution.
Will people remain slaves of self-confinement
until the end of the world?
Or will they be freed by the passing of time
and live in the spirit and for the spirit?
Will they insist upon staring downward and
backward at the earth?
Or will they turn their eyes toward the sun
so they will not see the shadow of their bodies
amongst the skulls and thorns?
L I S T E N I N G T O N AT U R E ’ S L I F E
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SAID A BLADE OF GRASS
Said a blade of grass to an autumn leaf:
“You make such a noise falling! You scatter
all my winter dreams.”
Said the leaf indignant:
“Low born and low-dwelling! Song-less, pee-
vish thing! You live not in the upper air a
nd you
cannot tell the sound of singing.”
Then the autumn leaf lay down upon the
earth and slept.
And when spring came she waked again—
and she was a blade of grass.
And when it was autumn and her winter
sleep was upon her, and above her through all
the air the leaves were falling, she muttered
to herself:
“O, these autumn leaves! They make such
noise! They scatter all my winter dreams.”
K A H L I L G I B R A N ’ S L I T T L E B O O K O F L I F E
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THREE DOGS
Three dogs were basking in the sun and con-
versing.
The first dog said dreamily, “It is indeed
wondrous to be living in this day of dogdom.
Consider the ease with which we travel under
the sea, upon the earth, and even in the sky.
And meditate for a moment upon the inventions
brought forth for the comfort of dogs, even for
our eyes and ears and noses.”
And the second dog spoke and he said,
“We are more heedful of the arts. We bark at
the moon more rhythmically than did our fore-
fathers. And when we gaze at ourselves in the
water, we see that our features are clearer than
the features of yesterday.”
Then the third dog spoke and said, “But
what interests me most and beguiles my mind
is the tranquil understanding existing between
dogdoms.”
At that very moment they looked, and lo, the
dog catcher was approaching.
L I S T E N I N G T O N AT U R E ’ S L I F E
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The three dogs sprang up and scampered
down the street.
And as they ran the third dog said, “For God’s
sake, run for your lives! Civilization is after us!”
K A H L I L G I B R A N ’ S L I T T L E B O O K O F L I F E
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SHADOWS
A fox looked at his shadow at sunrise and said,
“I will have a camel for lunch today.”
And all morning he went about looking
for camels.
But at noon he saw his shadow again—and
he said,
“A mouse will do.”
L I S T E N I N G T O N AT U R E ’ S L I F E
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SONG OF THE RAIN
I am dotted silver threads,
dropped from heaven by the gods.
Nature then takes me to adorn her fields and
valleys.
I am beautiful pearls,
plucked from the crown of Ishtar
by the daughter of dawn to embellish the
gardens.
When I cry, the hills laugh.
When I humble myself, the flowers rejoice.
When I bow, all things are elated.
The field and the cloud are lovers,
and between them I am a messenger of mercy.
I quench the thirst of one,
I cure the ailment of the other.
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The voice of thunder declares my arrival.
The rainbow announces my departure.
I am like earthly life,
which begins at the feet of the mad elements
and ends under the upraised wings of death.
I emerge from the heart of the sea
and soar with the breeze.
When I see a field in need,
I descend and embrace
the flowers and the trees
in a million little ways.
I touch gently at the windows
with my soft fingers,
and my announcement is a welcome song.
All can hear,
but only the sensitive can understand.
L I S T E N I N G T O N AT U R E ’ S L I F E
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The heat in the air gives birth to me,
but in turn I kill it,
as woman overcomes man
with the strength she takes from him.
I am the sigh of the sea,
the laughter of the field,
the tears of heaven.
So with love—
sighs from the deep sea of affection,
laughter from the colorful field of the spirit,
tears from the endless heaven of memories.
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A HYENA AND A CROCODILE
Upon the bank of the Nile at eventide, a hyena
met a crocodile, and they stopped and greeted
one another.
The hyena spoke and said, “How goes the
day with you, sir?”
And the crocodile answered, saying, “It goes
badly with me. Sometimes in my pain and sor-
row I weep, and then the creatures always say,
‘They are but crocodile tears.’ And this wounds
me beyond all telling.”
Then the hyena said, “You speak of your
pain and your sorrow, but think of me also, for
a moment. I gaze at the beauty of the world, its
wonders and its miracles, and out of sheer joy
I laugh even as the day laughs. And then the
people of the jungle say, ‘It is but the laughter
of a hyena.’”
L I S T E N I N G T O N AT U R E ’ S L I F E
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TWO OYSTERS
Said one oyster to a neighboring oyster,
“I have a very great pain within me. It is
heavy and round and I am in distress.”
And the other oyster replied with haughty
complacence,
“Praise be to the heavens and to the sea, I
have no pain within me. I am well and whole,
both within and without.”
At that moment a crab was passing by
and heard the two oysters. And he said to the
one who was well and whole, both within and
without,
“Yes, you are well and whole, but the pain
that your neighbor bears is a pearl of exceeding
beauty.”
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TREES ARE POEMS
Trees are poems
that the earth writes upon the sky.
We fell them down and
turn them into paper
that we may record our emptiness.
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THE RED EARTH
Said a tree to a man,
“My roots are in the deep red earth, and I
shall give you of my fruit.”
And the man said to the tree,
“How alike we are. My roots are also deep
in the red earth. And the red earth gives you
&
nbsp; power to bestow upon me of your fruit, and the
red earth teaches me to receive from you with
thanksgiving.”
K A H L I L G I B R A N ’ S L I T T L E B O O K O F L I F E
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THE FULL MOON
The full moon rose in glory upon the town,
and all the dogs of that town began to bark at
the moon.
Only one dog did not bark, and it said to the
rest in a grave voice, “Awake not stillness from
her sleep, nor bring you the moon to the earth
with your barking.”
Then all the dogs ceased barking, in awful
silence.
But the dog who had spoken to them con-
tinued barking for silence the rest of the night.
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THE SUPREME ANT
Three ants met on the nose of a man who was
asleep in the sun. And after they had saluted
one another, each according to the custom of its
tribe, they stood there conversing.
The first ant said, “These hills and plains are
the most barren I have known. I have searched
all day for a grain of some sort, and there is none
to be found.”
Said the second ant, “I too have found noth-
ing, though I have visited every nook and glade.
This is, I believe, what my people call the soft,
moving land where nothing grows.”
Then the third ant raised its head and said,
“My friends, we are standing now on the nose
of the Supreme Ant, the mighty and infinite
Ant, whose body is so great that we cannot see
it, whose shadow is so vast that we cannot trace
it, whose voice is so loud that we cannot hear it;
and He is omnipresent.”
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When the third ant spoke thus the other ants
looked at each other and laughed.
At that moment the man moved, and in his
sleep raised his hand and scratched his nose,
and the three ants were crushed.
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THE POMEGRANATE
Once when I was living in the heart of a pome-