Gibran Stories Omnibus

But those eyes, instead of making me
forget what she had said, repeated through the depths of my heart more
clearly and effectively the sweet words which had already become graven
in my memory for eternity.
      Every beauty and greatness in this world is created by a single
thought or emotion inside a man. Every thing we see today, made by past
generation, was, before its appearance, a thought in the mind of a man
or an impulse in the heart of a woman. The revolutions that shed so
much blood and turned men's minds toward liberty were the idea of one
man who lived in the midst of thousands of men. The devastating wars
which destroyed empires were a thought that existed in the mind of an
individual. The supreme teachings that changed the course of humanity
were the ideas of a man whose genius separated him from his
environment. A single thought build the Pyramids, founded the glory of
Islam, and caused the burning of the library at Alexandria.
      One thought will come to you at night which will elevate you to
glory or lead you to asylum. One look from a woman's eye makes you the
happiest man in the world. One word from a man's lips will make you
rich or poor.
      That word which Selma uttered that night arrested me between my past
and future, as a boat which is anchored in the midst of the ocean. That
word awakened me from the slumber of youth and solitude and set me on
the stage where life and death play their parts.
      The scent of flowers mingled with the breeze as we came into the
garden and sat silently on a bench near a jasmine tree, listening to
the breathing of sleeping nature, while in the blue sky the eyes of
heaven witnessed our drama.
      The moon came out from behind Mount Sunnin and shone over the coast,
hills, and mountains; and we could see the villages fringing the valley
like apparitions which have suddenly been conjured from nothing. We
could see the beauty of Lebanon under the silver rays of the moon.
      Poets of the West think of Lebanon as a legendary place, forgotten
since the passing of David and Solomon and the Prophets, as the Garden
of Eden became lost after the fall of Adam and Eve. To those Western
poets, the word “Lebanon” is a poetical expression associated with a
mountain whose sides are drenched with the incense of the Holy Cedars.
It reminds them of the temples of copper and marble standing stern and
impregnable and of a herd of deer feeding in the valleys. That night I
saw Lebanon dream-like with the eyes of a poet.
      Thus, the appearance of things changes according to the emotions,
and thus we see magic and beauty in them, while the magic and beauty
are really in ourselves.
      As the rays of the moon shone on the face, neck, and arms of Selma,
she looked like a statue of ivory sculptured by the fingers of some
worshiper of Ishtar, goddess of beauty and love. As she looked at me,
she said, “Why are you silent? Why do you not tell me something about
your past?” As I gazed at her, my muteness vanished, and I opened my
lips and said, “Did you not hear what I said when we came to this
orchard? The spirit that hears the whispering of flowers and the
singing of silence can also hear the shrieking of my soul and the
clamour of my heart.”
      She covered her face with her hands and said in a trembling voice,
“Yes, I heard you —I heard a voice coming from the bosom of night and
a clamour raging in the heart of the day.”
      Forgetting my past, my very existence —everything but Selma —I
answered her, saying, “And I heard you, too, Selma. I heard
exhilarating music pulsing in the air and causing the whole universe to
tremble.”
      Upon hearing these words, she closed her eyes and her lips I saw a
smile of pleasure mingled with sadness. She whispered softly, “Now I
know that there is something higher than heaven and deeper than the
ocean and stranger than life and death and time. I know now what I did
not know before.”
      At that moment Selma became dearer than a friend and closer than a
sister and more beloved than a sweetheart. She became a supreme
thought, a beautiful, an overpowering emotion living in my spirit.
      It is wrong to think that love comes from long companionship and
persevering courtship. Love is the offspring of spiritual affinity and
unless that affinity is created in a moment, it will not be