The Prophet

I had never read anything by Kahlil Gibran before. I have to admit that I am quite illiterate in regards of poetry written in English, or in most other languages, as I don't think you can grasp all the emotion that poetry should convey from a translation. Coming from a translator this sounds like a joke.

Going back to Gibran, I loved this book. A mother's day gift from 2009, It had been in my night table waiting for five years. I am not a religious person, but its spirituality reached me. I read it aloud in the hopes that the baby in my belly can hear it too, and in this way, the rhythm of the verses made it sound as a meditation chant, the kind that brings you peace.

Each one of its "sections" could start an hours long philosophical discussion. But there is so much kindness and respect in his words that if you read it alone, it can only give you calm, and make you smile.

There are two quotes that I highlighted:

"And to love life through labour is to be intimate with life's inmost secret". (p. 26)

This quote resonates with me, as I have never felt as alive, as womanly and as powerful as I did when I gave birth to my second son. The energy that fills the room when you are laboring is impossible to match or recreate, and having a man put this in writing in 1923 is just amazing. I will keep his words next to me when the time comes, and that energy returns to me for the birth of my third son.

"Your friend is your needs answered.

He is your field which you sow with love and reap with thanksgiving.

And he is your board and your fireside.

For you come to him with your hunger,

and you seek him for peace". (p. 58)

Also seeing friendship among the basic things of life is rewarding. I wouldn't be who or where I am without my friends, who listened to endless evenings of love hits or misses, cheered me up when I needed it, pushed me or stopped me when it was called for. They are still there, some far away, someclose by, and I keep meeting more of them, and I will never be grateful enough to all of them. 

Before the hormones take over, I will just recommend that you read this book, this beautiful edition by Knopf in thick cream paper, with illustrations by the author. Read it, digest it, discuss it, as there is so much in such a little number of pages...