Kahil Gabran ,On Friendship, Love and Marriage

Selected Passages from Kahil Gabran’s The Prophet
For Erica and Josh’s Wedding

And one said, “Speak to us on Friendship”,
Your friend is your needs answered, for you come to him with your hunger and you seek him for peace.
When you part from your friend- you grieve not, for that which you love most in him maybe clearer in his absence- as the mountain to the climber is clearer from the plain.
And let there be no purpose in friendship- save the deepening of the Spirit.
And in the sweetness of friendship-let there be laughter and sharing of pleasures.
For in the dew of the little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed.

And one said, “Speak to us of Love”,
When love beckons you- follow him.
And when he speaks to you believe in me.
For love is sufficient unto love.
Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself.
To wake at dawn and give thanks for another day of loving.
To rest at noon hour and meditate loves ecstasy.
To return home in the evening with gratitude and then to sleep with a prayer in your heart and a word of praise on your lips.

And one said, “Speak to us of Marriage”,
Let the winds dance between you.
Let it be a moving sea between the shores of your soul.
Sing and dance together and be joyous- but let each one of you be alone.
Even as the strings of a mandolin are alone they quiver with the same music.
And stand together, yet not to near together.
The oak tree and the cypress tree grow no tin each other shadow.
Let there be spaces in your togetherness.
And together you shall be forever more.