Khalil Gibran

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Work Chapter Vii Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: A B C D E F F G H D F I J K A L M L N O P D B Q R S B T U V W X

Then a ploughman said Speak to us of WorkA
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And he answered sayingB
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You work that you may keep pace with the earth and the soul of the earthC
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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 infiniteD
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When you work you are a flute through whose heart the whispering of the hours turns to musicE
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Which of you would be a reed dumb and silent when all else sings together in unisonF
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Always you have been told that work is a curse and labour a misfortuneF
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But I say to you that when you work you fulfil a part of earth's furthest dream assigned to you when that dream was bornG
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And in keeping yourself with labour you are in truth loving lifeH
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And to love life through labour is to be intimate with life's inmost secretD
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But if you in your pain call birth an affliction and the support of the flesh a curse written upon your brow then I answer that naught but the sweat of your brow shall wash away that which is writtenF
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You have been told also life is darkness and in your weariness you echo what was said by the wearyI
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And I say that life is indeed darkness save when there is urgeJ
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And all urge is blind save when there is knowledgeK
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And all knowledge is vain save when there is workA
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And all work is empty save when there is loveL
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And when you work with love you bind yourself to yourself and to one another and to GodM
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And what is it to work with loveL
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It is to weave the cloth with threads drawn from your heart even as if your beloved were to wear that clothN
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It is to build a house with affection even as if your beloved were to dwell in that houseO
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It is to sow seeds with tenderness and reap the harvest with joy even as if your beloved were to eat the fruitP
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It is to charge all things you fashion with a breath of your own spiritD
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And to know that all the blessed dead are standing about you and watchingB
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Often have I heard you say as if speaking in sleep he who works in marble and finds the shape of his own soul in the stone is a nobler than he who ploughs the soilQ
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And he who seizes the rainbow to lay it on a cloth in the likeness of man is more than he who makes the sandals for our feetR
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But I say not in sleep but in the over wakefulness of noontide that the wind speaks not more sweetly to the giant oaks than to the least of all the blades of grassS
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And he alone is great who turns the voice of the wind into a song made sweeter by his own lovingB
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Work is love made visibleT
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And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joyU
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For if you bake bread with indifference you bake a bitter bread that feeds but half man's hungerV
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And if you grudge the crushing of the grapes your grudge distills a poison in the wineW
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And if you sing though as angels and love not the singing you muffle man's ears to the voices of the day and the voices of the nightX

Khalil Gibran



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