Gibran Stories Omnibus

to meet him. Apologetically he took my hand and said,
“Forgive me, my son. I have ruined your evening with the shedding of
tears, but please come to see me when my house is deserted and I am
lonely and desperate. Youth, my dear son, does not combine with
senility, as morning does not have meet the night; but you will come to
me and call to my memory the youthful days which I spent with your
father, and you will tell me the news of life which does not count me
as among its sons any longer. Will you not visit me when Selma leaves
and I am left here in loneliness?”
      While he said these sorrowful words and I silently shook his hand, I
felt the warm tears falling from his eyes upon my hand. Trembling with
sorrow and filial affection. I felt as if my heart were choked with
grief. When I raised my head and he saw the tears in my eyes, he bent
toward me and touched my forehead with his lips. “Good-bye, son,
Good-bye.”
      In old man's tear is more potent than that of a young man because it
is the residuum of life in his weakening body. A young man's tear is
like a drop of dew on the leaf of a rose, while that of an old man is
like a yellow leaf which falls with the wind at the approach of winter.
      As I left the house of Farris Effandi Karamy, Selma's voice still
rang in my ears, her beauty followed me like a wraith, and her father's
tears dried slowly on my hand.
      My departure was like Adam's exodus from Paradise, but the Eve of my
heart was not with me to make the whole world an Eden. That night, in
which I had been born again, I felt that I saw death's face for the
first time.
      Thus the sun enlivens and kills the fields with its heat.

THE LAKE OF FIRE
         
      Everything that a man does secretly in the darkness of night will be
clearly revealed in the daylight. Words uttered in privacy will become
unexpectedly common conversation. Deed which we hide today in the
corners of our lodgings will be shouted on every street tomorrow.
      Thus the ghosts of darkness revealed the purpose of Bishop Bulos
Galib's meeting with Farris Effandi Karamy, and his conversation was
repeated all over the neighbourhood until it reached my ears.
      The discussion that took place between Bishop Bulos Galib and Farris
Effandi that night was not over the problems of the poor or the widows
and orphans. The main purpose for sending after Farris Effandi and
bringing him in the Bishops' private carriage was the betrothal of
Selma to the Bishop's nephew, Mansour Bey Galib.
      Selma was the only child of the wealthy Farris Effandi, and the
Bishop's choice fell on Selma, not on account of her beauty and noble
spirit, but on account of her father's money which would guarantee
Mansour Bey a good and prosperous fortune and make him an important
man.
      The heads of religion in the East are not satisfied with their own
munificence, but they must strive to make all members of their families
superiors and oppressors. The glory of a prince goes to his eldest son
by inheritance, but the exaltation of a religious head is contagious
among his brothers and nephews. Thus the Christian bishop and the
Moslem imam and the Brahman priest become like sea reptiles who clutch
their prey with many tentacles and suck their blood with numerous
mouths.
      Then the Bishop demanded Selma's hand for his nephew, the only
answer that he received from her father was a deep silence and falling
tears, for he hated to lose his only child. Any man's soul trembles
when he is separated from his only daughter whom he has reared to young
womanhood.
      The sorrow of parents at the marriage of a daughter is equal to
their happiness at the marriage of a son, because a son brings to the
family a new member, while a daughter, upon her marriage, is lost to
them.
      Farris Effandi perforce granted the Bishop's request, obeying his
will unwillingly, because Farris Effandi knew the Bishop's nephew very
well, knew that he was dangerous, full of hate, wickedness, and
corruption.
      In Lebanon, no Christian could oppose his bishop and remain in good
standing. No man could disobey his religious head and keep his
reputation. The eye could not resist a spear without being pierced, and
the hand could not grasp a sword without being cut off.
      Suppose that Farris Effandi had resisted the Bishop and refused his