Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.
And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears.
And how else can it be?
The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.
Is not the cup that holds your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter's oven?
And is not the lute that soothes your spirit, the very wood that was hollowed with knives?
When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy.
When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.
Some of you say, "Joy is greater thar sorrow," and others say, "Nay, sorrow is the greater."
But I say unto you, they are inseparable.
Together they come, and when one sits, alone with you at your board, remember that the other is asleep upon your bed.
Verily you are suspended like scales between your sorrow and your joy.
Only when you are empty are you at standstill and balanced.
When the treasure-keeper lifts you to weigh his gold and his silver, needs must your joy or your sorrow rise or fall.
--Kahlil Gibran
3 comments:
Ah, I love Khalil Gibran. We used his chapter on marriage for the reading in our wedding.
I had always planned on using the same. Hope you don't think I'm a copycat. Of course, there is probably little danger of that since I am heading steadily into old-maidem. :(
Oh, please re: old maid. Maybe you'll find your man on your trip this summer a la Elizabeth Gilbert in Bali.
I thought the Khalil Gibran ditty on marriage would be unique for a wedding reading... turns out a lot more ppl do it than I thought. But, it's still good. Our hippy-dippy officiant loved it. :)
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