A Poet's Voice Xv Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A A B C D E F G H I J A I D K L M N A O P J Q R S T A J U A V W X I Y P Z S| reap and gather the wheat in bundles and give them to the hungry | A |
| - | |
| My soul gives life to the grapevine and I press its bunches and give the juice to the thirsty | A |
| - | |
| Heaven fills my lamp with oil and I place it at my window to direct the stranger through the dark | B |
| - | |
| I do all these things because I live in them and if destiny should tie my hands and prevent me from so doing then death would be my only desire For I am a poet and if I cannot give I shall refuse to receive | C |
| - | |
| Humanity rages like a tempest but I sigh in silence for I know the storm must pass away while a sigh goes to God | D |
| - | |
| Human kinds cling to earthly things but I seek ever to embrace the torch of love so it will purify me by its fire and sear inhumanity from my heart | E |
| - | |
| Substantial things deaden a man without suffering love awakens him with enlivening pains | F |
| - | |
| Humans are divided into different clans and tribes and belong to countries and towns But I find myself a stranger to all communities and belong to no settlement The universe is my country and the human family is my tribe | G |
| - | |
| Men are weak and it is sad that they divide amongst themselves The world is narrow and it is unwise to cleave it into kingdoms empires and provinces | H |
| - | |
| Human kinds unite themselves one to destroy the temples of the soul and they join hands to build edifices for earthly bodies I stand alone listening to the voice of hope in my deep self saying As love enlivens a man's heart with pain so ignorance teaches him the way of knowledge Pain and ignorance lead to great joy and knowledge because the Supreme Being has created nothing vain under the sun | I |
| - | |
| - | |
| - | |
| Part Two | J |
| - | |
| - | |
| I have a yearning for my beautiful country and I love its people because of their misery But if my people rose stimulated by plunder and motivated by what they call patriotic spirit to murder and invaded my neighbor's country then upon the committing of any human atrocity I would hate my people and my country | A |
| - | |
| I sing the praise of my birthplace and long to see the home of my children but if the people in that home refused to shelter and feed the needy wayfarer I would convert my praise into anger and my longing to forgetfulness My inner voice would say The house that does not comfort the need is worthy of naught by destruction | I |
| - | |
| I love my native village with some of my love for my country and I love my country with part of my love for the earth all of which is my country and I love the earth will all of myself because it is the haven of humanity the manifest spirit of God | D |
| - | |
| Humanity is the spirit of the Supreme Being on earth and that humanity is standing amidst ruins hiding its nakedness behind tattered rags shedding tears upon hollow cheeks and calling for its children with pitiful voice But the children are busy singing their clan's anthem they are busy sharpening the swords and cannot hear the cry of their mothers | K |
| - | |
| Humanity appeals to its people but they listen not Were one to listen and console a mother by wiping her tears other would say He is weak affected by sentiment | L |
| - | |
| Humanity is the spirit of the Supreme Being on earth and that Supreme Being preaches love and good will But the people ridicule such teachings The Nazarene Jesus listened and crucifixion was his lot Socrates heard the voice and followed it and he too fell victim in body The followers of The Nazarene and Socrates are the followers of Deity and since people will not kill them they deride them saying Ridicule is more bitter than killing | M |
| - | |
| Jerusalem could not kill The Nazarene nor Athens Socrates they are living yet and shall live eternally Ridicule cannot triumph over the followers of Deity They live and grow forever | N |
| - | |
| - | |
| - | |
| Part Three | A |
| - | |
| - | |
| Thou art my brother because you are a human and we both are sons of one Holy Spirit we are equal and made of the same earth | O |
| - | |
| You are here as my companion along the path of life and my aid in understanding the meaning of hidden Truth You are a human and that fact sufficing I love you as a brother You may speak of me as you choose for Tomorrow shall take you away and will use your talk as evidence for his judgment and you shall receive justice | P |
| - | |
| You may deprive me of whatever I possess for my greed instigated the amassing of wealth and you are entitled to my lot if it will satisfy you | J |
| - | |
| You may do unto me whatever you wish but you shall not be able to touch my Truth | Q |
| - | |
| You may shed my blood and burn my body but you cannot kill or hurt my spirit | R |
| - | |
| You may tie my hands with chains and my feet with shackles and put me in the dark prison but who shall not enslave my thinking for it is free like the breeze in the spacious sky | S |
| - | |
| You are my brother and I love you I love you worshipping in your church kneeling in your temple and praying in your mosque You and I and all are children of one religion for the varied paths of religion are but the fingers of the loving hand of the Supreme Being extended to all offering completeness of spirit to all anxious to receive all | T |
| - | |
| I love you for your Truth derived from your knowledge that Truth which I cannot see because of my ignorance But I respect it as a divine thing for it is the deed of the spirit Your Truth shall meet my Truth in the coming world and blend together like the fragrance of flowers and becoming one whole and eternal Truth perpetuating and living in the eternity of Love and Beauty | A |
| - | |
| I love you because you are weak before the strong oppressor and poor before the greedy rich For these reasons I shed tears and comfort you and from behind my tears I see you embraced in the arms of Justice smiling and forgiving your persecutors You are my brother and I love you | J |
| - | |
| - | |
| - | |
| Part Four | U |
| - | |
| - | |
| You are my brother but why are you quarreling with me Why do you invade my country and try to subjugate me for the sake of pleasing those who are seeking glory and authority | A |
| - | |
| Why do you leave your wife and children and follow Death to the distant land for the sake of those who buy glory with your blood and high honor with your mother's tears | V |
| - | |
| Is it an honor for a man to kill his brother man If you deem it an honor let it be an act of worship and erect a temple to Cain who slew his brother Abel | W |
| - | |
| Is self preservation the first law of Nature Why then does Greed urge you to self sacrifice in order only to achieve his aim in hurting your brothers Beware my brother of the leader who says Love of existence obliges us to deprive the people of their rights I say unto you but this protecting others' rights is the noblest and most beautiful human act if my existence requires that I kill others then death is more honorable to me and if I cannot find someone to kill me for the protection of my honor I will not hesitate to take my life by my own hands for the sake of Eternity before Eternity comes | X |
| - | |
| Selfishness my brother is the cause of blind superiority and superiority creates clanship and clanship creates authority which leads to discord and subjugation | I |
| - | |
| The soul believes in the power of knowledge and justice over dark ignorance it denies the authority that supplies the swords to defend and strengthen ignorance and oppression that authority which destroyed Babylon and shook the foundation of Jerusalem and left Rome in ruins It is that which made people call criminals great mean made writers respect their names made historians relate the stories of their inhumanity in manner of praise | Y |
| - | |
| The only authority I obey is the knowledge of guarding and acquiescing in the Natural Law of Justice | P |
| - | |
| What justice does authority display when it kills the killer When it imprisons the robber When it descends on a neighborhood country and slays its people What does justice think of the authority under which a killer punishes the one who kills and a thief sentences the one who steals | Z |
| - | |
| You are my brother and I love you and Love is justice with its full intensity and dignity If justice did not support my | S |
Khalil Gibran
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
Write your comment about A Poet's Voice Xv poem by Khalil Gibran
Best Poems of Khalil Gibran