Kahlil Gibran

Painting by Kahlil Gibran

Song of Beauty

I am the guide of love
I am wine of the spirit
I am food to the heart.


I am a rose ;
I open my heart at daybreak; a maiden plucks me and kisses me
and puts me to her breast.


I am the abode of happiness
And the source of joy.
I am the beginning of repose.


I am a gentle smile on the lips of a maid ;
Youth beholds me, his toil is forgotten, and his life
becomes a stage for sweet dreams.


I am the poet's imagination
And the artist's guide.
I am teacher to the music-maker.
I am the glance in the eye of a child
Behold by a tender mother.
Before it does she pray and glorify God.


I appeared to Adam in Eve's image
And enslaved him.
I was revealed to Solomon in his beloved, and made
him poet and sage.
I smiled on Helen,
And Troy was destroyed ;
I crowned Cleopatra, and peace conquered the Nile.



I am as Destiny;
In this day I build,
On the morrow destroy.
I am God,
I quicken and make dead.


I am lighter than a sigh from the violet flower,
And mightier than the tempest.
I am a Truth, O people, yea , a Truth .

from the book A Tear And A Smile by Kahlil Gibran