Tears and Laughter by Kahlil Gibran posted by Ranu

October 20, 2013

Khalil Gibran (April 1913) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Cover via Amazon

I read this poem in a book by Kahlil Gibran. The words are magical. I hope you’ll like it as much as I did.

Tears that purify my heart and reveal

to me the secret of life and its mystery,

Laughter that brings me closer to

my fellowmen;

Tears with which I join the

broken-hearted,

Laughter that symbolizes joy over

my very existence.

I prefer death through happiness a

thousand fold to life in vain and in

despair.

An eternal hunger for love

and beauty is my desire;I know

now that those who possess bounty

alone are naught but miserable,

but to my spirit the sighs of

lovers are more soothing than

music of the lyre.

When night comes, the flower

folds its petals and slumbers

with love,and at dawn,it

opens its lips to receive the

sun’s kisses bespeckled  by quick

dartings of clouds which come,

but surely go.

The life of flowers is hope and

fulfillment and peace; tears and laughter.

The water disappears and ascends

until it turns into clouds that

gather upon the hills and valleys;

and when it meets the breeze,it

falls down upon the fields and

joins the brook that sings it

way toward the sea.

The life of clouds is a life of

farewell and a life of reunion;

tears and laughter.

Thus the spirit separates itself

from the body and walks into

the world of substance,passing

like clouds over the valleys of

sorrow and mountains of happiness

until it meets the

breeze of death and returns to

its starting place,the endless

ocean of love and beauty which

is God.