Selected Short Works of Khalil Gibran

by Kahlil Gibran

Your Lebanon is an arena for men from the West and men from the East. My Lebanon is a flock of birds fluttering in the early morning as shepherds lead their sheep into the meadows and rising in the evening as farmers return from their fields and vineyards. You have your Lebanon and its people. I have my Lebanon and its people. Yours are those whose souls were born in the hospitals of the West; they are as a ship without rudder or sail upon a raging sea… . They are strong and eloquent among themselves but weak and dumb among Europeans. They are brave, the liberators and the reformers, but only in their own area. But they are the cowards, always led backward by the Europeans. They are those who croak like frogs boasting that they have rid themselves of their ancient, tyrannical enemy, but the truth of the matter is that this tyrannical enemy still hides within their own souls. They are the slaves for whom time had exchanged rusty chains for shiny ones so that they thought themselves free. These are the children of your Lebanon. Is there anyone among them who represents the strength of the towering rocks of Lebanon, the purity of its water or the fragrance of its air? Who among them vouchsafes to say, "When I die I leave my country little better than when I was born?"

Genres: Poetry, Classics

100 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 29, 2009

About the author

Kahlil Gibran (Arabic: جبران خليل جبران ) was a Lebanese-American artist, poet, and writer.
Born in the town of Bsharri in modern-day Lebanon (then part of Ottoman Mount Lebanon), as a young man he emigrated with his family to the United States where he studied art and began his literary career. In the Arab world, Gibran is regarded as a literary and political rebel. His romantic style was at the heart of a renaissance in modern Arabic literature, especially prose poetry, breaking away from the classical school. In Lebanon, he is still celebrated as a literary hero.
He is chiefly known in the English-speaking world for his 1923 book The Prophet, an early example of inspirational fiction including a series of philosophical essays written in poetic English prose. The book sold well despite a cool critical reception, gaining popularity in the 1930s and again, especially in the 1960s counterculture.
Gibran is the third best-selling poet of all time, behind Shakespeare and Lao-Tzu.

Reviews

[Nidhi Arora · Rating 4 out of 5]

Khalil Gibran - The man and his words have left the world in awe. His poetry takes you to a different world, a world full of infinite pleasure, pure love and discrete pain.

His stories have the power to make the reader feel what the characters feel, this makes the reader one with the story. The stories are both spiritual and inspirational. They are brimming with wisdom. Are both abstract and completely natural at the same time.

The Prophet, Nymphs Of The Valley, Jesus: The Son Of Man are just some of his greatest written treasures.

His stories must be read by every reader, for his words touch the soul of all beyond boundaries.

"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." ~ Khalil Gibran

[Aaron Schuschu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read The New Frontier, You Have Your Lebanon and I Have Mine, and You Have Your Thought And I Have Mine

[Omar Alhady · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding sharpness of thought and emotionally intense style. Best if read in small doses and not too much at once.

[Ramya Abhinand · Rating 2 out of 5]

NOt really a genre I enjoyed