Kahlil Gibran
The wizard of rhetoric
The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931) is a marvelous book with the magical power of enthralling readers with poetic quotes on all aspects of lifeso divine, still so lifelike. The fabulous depiction of Al Mustafa, “the chosen and the beloved†who is the Prophet, loved and honoured by his people for years, is expected to illuminate the minds of millions with his sagacity and with the divinity of a true apostle. The warm ovation he received from his countrymen is described in the following exclusive mellifluent lines by Gibran, “A noontide have you been in our twilight and your youth has given us dreams to dream………you have walked among us a spirit, and your shadow has been a light upon our faces.†These verses display how much the prophet was adored and awaited by his masses. I can't help quoting a few other words said by the priests and priestesses to sublimate the prophet, “Much have we loved you. But speechless was our love……yet now it cries aloud unto you, and stand revealed before youâ€; and then we come across a classic aphorism that could only be crafted by Kahlil Gibran, “And ever has it been that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation.†The profound vision of Gibran delving deep into myriad aspects of life has made The Prophet an overwhelming masterpiece, as if the readers are walking through a large orchard with lots of trees bending down with ripe, mellow, fragrant fruits and flowers making it difficult to decide which one to pick. Such is the grandeur of Gibran's diction. His neatly chosen words astound readers with a lovely diversity of discourses on all earthly matters that the human mind can ponder on. It is the unique style of Kahlil Gibransewing up spiritualism in the finest ever poetic way through the folds of worldliness. The Prophet's heavenly voice jingles with a moving tone as he speaks of love to the audiences, “For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning…………like the sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself. He threshes you to make you naked. He sifts you to free you from your husks……He kneads you until you are pliant; and then he assigns you to his sacred fire, that you may become sacred bread for God's sacred feast.†If one wing of love bears the signs of pleasure, another rings in a perpetual melody of pain. Perhaps that is the message Gibran extends to us all. Love is a constant ambiguity; it's a simultaneous fount of smile and tears abreast, an everlasting symphony of mirth and remorse. Love, Gibran says, values the individualism of human souls. Even love between a married couple must leave a little space in the middle of two hearts. Let's try to have a feel of the way Gibran versifies it, “Love one another, but make not a bond of love. Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls…….give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf….even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music……and stand together yet not too near……for the pillars of the temple stand apart……†Gibran's words on children are equally gratifying to thoughtful minds. “Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself……you may house their bodies but not their souls. For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams……you are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.†Kahlil Gibran views children as the path leading to the door of tomorrow, as a beacon calling us to explore the future with new hope and dreams like the way Walt Whitman boasted of his 'tan-faced children' in the poem “Pioneer†as an immense power that would lead America to a new dawn. Kahlil Gibran elevates work to the level of a divine pursuit. He denounces idleness saying, “For to be idle is to become a stranger unto the seasons, and to step out of life's procession that marches in majesty and proud submission towards the infiniteâ€. Work with the essence of integrity rises to the height of offering prayers to God while indolence alienates humans from the real exuberance of life. This sense is further consolidated in his verses, “And when you work with love you bind yourself to yourself, and to one another, and to Godâ€. Work is superb power in having the chorus of life resonate in unison with our fellow human beings and their congregated sweat and toils reach God in the heavens above. “Work is love made visibleâ€. Love makes itself tangible to us when we work not just with our heads, but with our hearts too. The Prophet's discourses on joy and sorrow are once again filled with the same ornamental rhetoric and enriched with his philosophic vision. He begins his speech with an evocative line, “Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.†Sorrow is coated with a bitter taste, but as its outer shell erodes the sweet crux inside gradually makes its way out and that's what we call joy. Gibran reminds me of John Donne, the best-known English metaphysical poet, as I read with wonder his marvelous metaphors and striking conceits. About joy and sorrow he further says, “Together they come and when one sits alone with you at your board, remember that the other is asleep upon your bed.†Weal and woe come by turnsthat's what Gibran means to convey to us. Let us not get carried away with the vigorous stream of joy, neither should we allow sorrow to have us dispirited when it prolongs to test our patience and to try the strength of our faith in the Almighty as He is the one that sends down both. “And is not the lute that soothes your spirit the very wood that was hollowed with knives?†So, isn't sorrow indispensable to make us hug life like an invaluable treasure when the cloud of tough time clears up and the rays of a brighter daybreak kiss the windowpane? Kahlil Gibran's visualization of God through the image of humans is sketched in forms of beautifully woven words in another two outstanding books by himThe Madman and The Earth Gods. Gibran's splendid verses continue to mesmerize readers while he quests for God's entity in mankind in these two books. In The Earth Gods Gibran narrates a sublime conversation between three alter egos of Godthe First God, Second God and Third God. We find them speaking of the blooming of life, the beauty of spring and youth and this is how their words become a universal bunch of dialogues. The three alter egos of God converse with each other over the significance of humans' faith in one true God as well as the representation of God through humans in the following way as stated by Gibran: In man we seek a mouthpiece,
And in his life our self fulfillment.
Whose heart shall echo our voice if the human heart is deafened with dust?
Who shall behold our shining if man's eye is blinded with night?
And what would you do with man, child of our earliest heart, our own self image? God's soliloquies with Himself about His replenishing bonds with humans are put forward by Gibran as given below: You would not abandon him
Who strives to reach you through gladness and through pain.
You would not turn away your face from the need in his eye. God's benevolence towards the well-being of mankind is movingly presented in the above extract. Kahlil Gibran's works somehow act as an awakening and for this reason he was adorably known as the Immortal Prophet of Lebanon. Delighting readers was one of the prime pursuits of Gibran, simultaneously the ethical messages conveyed through his words are extremely emphatic, solemn and didactic. His first book in English The Madman makes valiant efforts to throw away the fetters of conventional thoughts to restructure our vision of life and other aspects that life involves. The reciprocity between man and God is demonstrated by Gibran in the line in The Madman that says: “I am thy yesterday and thou art my tomorrow. I am thy root in the earth and thou art my flower in the sky and together we grow before the face of the sun.†Kahlil Gibran in The Madman traces the emanation of God through the surroundings that encompass us everywhere in the following lines: “Then God leaned over me, and in my ears whispered words of sweetness and even as the sea that enfoldeth a brook that runneth down to her, He enfolded me. And when I descended to the valleys and the plains, God was there also.†Kahlil Gibran, as it appears from his writings, endeavoured to discover the hidden and genuine meaning of human life, which an average mind cannot trace, an average eye cannot view. And while doing so, he referred to humans' spiritual ties with God over and over again. In his works we come across a profound and venturous dive into the realms of human thoughts, actions, achievements and failures and his immortal literary creations have transformed him into a poet and author for all eras and for all races of mankind.
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