Wisdom Emotion

On Love


A voice cannot carry the tongue and the lips that gave it wings. Alone must it seek the ether. And alone and without his nest shall the eagle fly across the sun.

How often have you sailed in my dreams. And now you come in my awakening., Which is my deeper dream. Ready am I to go, and my eagerness with sails full set awaits the wind. And then shall I come to you, a boundless drop to a boundless ocean.

For even as love is for your growth so is as it ascends to your height, and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun., So shall it descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth.

All these shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart, and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life's heart.


Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself. Love possesses not nor would it be possessed., For love is sufficient unto love. And think not you can direct the course of love, for love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.

Love has no other desire but to fulfil itself.
But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires:

To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.
To know the pain of too much tenderness.
To be wounded by your own understanding of love.,
And to bleed willingly and joyfully.
To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving.,
To rest at the noon hour and meditate love's ecstasy.,
To return home at eventide with gratitude.,

And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips.

Love one another, but make not a bond of Love: Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.


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 the temple stand apart.,
And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow.



Copyright 1923 Kahlil Gibran
On Love., The Prophet
Alfred Knopf Publishing - Random House