Gibran Stories Omnibus

to come to
this temple like a scared phantom, but today I came like a brave woman
who feels the urgency of sacrifice and knows the value of suffering, a
woman who likes to protect the one she loves from the ignorant people
and from her hungry spirit. I used to sit by you like a trembling
shadow, but today I came here to show you my true self before Ishtar
and Christ.
      I am a tree, grown in the shade, and today I stretched my branches
to tremble for a while in the daylight. I came here to tell you
good-bye, my beloved, and it is my hope that our farewell will be great
and awful like our love. Let our farewell be like fire that bends the
gold and makes it more resplendent.”
      Selma did not allow me to speak or protest, but she looked at me,
her eyes glittering, her face retaining its dignity, seeming like an
angel worthy of silence and respect. Then she flung herself upon me,
something which she had never done before, and put her smooth arms
around me and printed a long, deep, fiery kiss on my lips.
      As the sun went down, withdrawing its rays from those gardens and
orchards, Selma moved to the middle of the temple and gazed along at
its walls and corners as if she wanted to pour the light of her eyes on
its pictures and symbols. Then she walked forward and reverently knelt
before the picture of Christ and kissed His feet, and she whispered,
“Oh, Christ, I have chosen Thy Cross and deserted Ishtar's world of
pleasure and happiness; I have worn the wreath of thorns and discarded
the wreath of laurel and washed myself with blood and tears instead of
perfume and scent; I have drunk vinegar and gall from a cup which was
meant for wine and nectar; accept me, my Lord, among Thy followers and
lead me toward Galilee with those who have chosen Thee, contended with
their sufferings and delighted with their sorrows.”
      When she rose and looked at me and said, “Now I shall return happily
to my dark cave, where horrible ghosts reside, Do not sympathize with
me, my beloved, and do not feel sorry for me, because the soul that
sees the shadow of God once will never be frightened, thereafter, of
the ghosts of devils. And the eye that looks on heaven once will not be
closed by the pains of the world.”
      Uttering these words, Selma left the place of worship; and I
remained there lost in a deep sea of thoughts, absorbed in the world of
revelation where God sits on the throne and the angels write down the
acts of human beings, and the souls recite the tragedy of life, and the
brides of Heaven sing the hymns of love, sorrow and immortality.
      Night had already come when I awakened from my swoon and found
myself bewildered in the midst of the gardens, repeating the echo of
every word uttered by Selma and remembering her silence, ,her actions,
her movements, her expression and the touch of her hands, until I
realized the meaning of farewell and the pain of lonesomeness. I was
depressed and heart-broken. It was my first discovery of the fact that
men, even if they are born free, will remain slaves of strict laws
enacted by their forefathers; and that the firmament, which we imagine
as unchanging, is the yielding of today to the will of tomorrow and
submission of yesterday to the will of today —Many a time, since the
night, I have thought of the spiritual law which made Selma prefer
death to life, and many a time I have made a comparison between
nobility of sacrifice and happiness of rebellion to find out which one
is nobler and more beautiful; but until now I have distilled only one
truth out of the whole matter, and this truth is sincerity, which makes
all our deeds beautiful and honourable. And this sincerity was in Selma
Karamy.

THE RESCUER
         
      Five years of Selma's marriage passed without bringing children to
strengthen the ties of spiritual relation between her and her husband
and bind their repugnant souls together.
      A barren woman is looked upon with disdain everywhere because of
most men's desire to perpetuate themselves through posterity.
      The substantial man considers his childless wife as an enemy; he
detests her and deserts her and wishes her death. Mansour Bey Galib was
that kind of man; materially, he was like earth, and hard like steel
and greedy like a grave. His desire of having a child to carry on his
name and reputation made him hate Selma in spite of her beauty