Listen to the Prophet on his views on togetherness

“Then Almira spoke again and said,
And what is marriage, Master?
And he answered saying:
…Let there be spaces in your togetherness
And let the winds of the heaven dance between you.
Love one another, but make not a bond of love,
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Fill each other’s cup but drink not from one cup,
Give one another your bread but eat not the same loaf,
Sing and dance together and be joyous,
But let each of you be alone
Even as the strings of a lute are alone,
They quiver with the same music.
Give your hearts, but not into each other’s keeping,
For only, the hand of Life can contain your hearts
And stand together yet not too near together
For the pillars of temple stand apart,
And the oak tree and the cypress grow
Not in each other’s shadow.”
--From “The Prophet” by Kahlil Gibran

Why?

On the streets I saw a small girl
Cold and shivering in a thin dress,
with little hope of a decent meal.
I became angry and said to god:
“Why did you permit this?
Why don’t you do something about it?”
For awhile God said nothing
That night he replied, quite suddenly:
“I certainly did something about it.
I made you.”

The Horizon

I am standing upon the seashore
A ship at my side spreads her white salts to the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean.
She is an object of beauty and strength
I stand and watch her until at length,
she hangs like a speck of white cloud on the horizon,
just where the sea and the sky come to mingle with one another.
Then, someone at my ride says:” There, she is gone”
“Gone where?”
Gone from my sight that is all.
She is just as large in mast and hull and spar
As she was when she left my ride,
And she is just as able to bear her load
Of living freight to her destined port.
Her diminished size is in me, not in her
And just at the moment when someone at my
Ride says,” There, she is gone,” There are other eyes watching her coming,
And other voices ready to take up the glad shout:
“Here she comes!
And that is dying.

Things I’ve learned along the way

I’ve learned that time flies whether I’m having fun or not.
I’ve learned that grief knows no rules.
I’ve learned that every day I can make a difference in someone else’s life, and that I choose to make it a positive difference.
I’ve learned that a body believes every word you tell it.
I’ve learned that if I can’t cure, I can still care.
I’ve learned that if I don’t take care of myself, I can’t take care of anyone else.

After a while

After a while you learn the subtle difference between holding a hand and chaining a soul,
And you learn that love doesn’t mean leaning and company doesn’t mean security,
And you begin to learn that kisses aren’t contracts and presents aren’t promises,
And you begin to accept your defeats with our head up and eyes open,
With the grace of an adult and not the grief of a child
And you learn to build all your roads on today
Because tomorrow’s ground is too uncertain for plans
After a while you learn that even sunshine burns if you get too much
So plant your own garden and decorate your own flowers
And you learn that you really can endure…
That you really are strong,
And you really do have worth.