And a man said, Speak to us of Self-Knowledge.
And he answered, saying:
Your hearts know in silence the secrets of the days and the nights.
But your ears thirst for the sound of your heart’s knowledge.
You would know in words that which you have always known in thought.
You would touch with your fingers the naked body of your dreams.
And it is well you should.
The hidden well-spring of your soul must needs rise and run murmuring to the sea;
And the treasure of your infinite depths would be revealed to your eyes.
But let there be no scales ot weigh your unknown treasure;
And seek not the depths of your knowledge with staff or sounding line.
For self is a sea boundless and measureless.
Say not, “I have found the truth,” but rather, “I have found a truth.”
Say not, "I have found the path of the soul.” Say rather, “I have met the soul walking upon my path.”
For the soul walks upon all paths.
The soul walks not upon a line, neither does it grow like a reed.
The soul unfolds itself, like a lotus of countless petals.
From The Prophet (Alfred A. Knopf, 1923) by Kahlil Gibran. This poem is in the public domain.
What wilt thou do when faith is fled
And hope is dead
And love's wing broken?
Wilt thou lie in the grave of the past and sleep,
While the mourners weep
And sad rites are spoken?
Nay, nay—fare forth, though the night be black
And the storm's red rack
In the sky is burning;
For the sun shines somewhere, from gloom released,
And the heart of the east
For the day is yearning.
From Valeria and other poems (Chicago : A.C. McClurg & Company, 1892) by Harriet Monroe. This poem is in the public domain.