Kahlil Gibran
THE GREATER SEA
(from 'The Madman', 1918)
My soul and I went to the great sea to
bathe. And when we reached the shore, we went about looking for a hidden and
lonely place.
But as we walked, we saw a man sitting
on a grey rock taking pinches of salt from a bag and throwing them into the
sea.
“This is the pessimist,” said my soul,
“Let us leave this place. We cannot bathe here.”
We walked on until we reached an inlet.
There we saw, standing on a white rock, a man holding a bejewelled box, from
which he took sugar and threw it into the sea.
“And this is the optimist,” said my
soul, “And he too must not see our naked bodies.”
Further on we walked. And on a beach we
saw a man picking up dead fish and tenderly putting them back into the water.
“And we cannot bathe before him,” said
my soul. “He is the humane philanthropist.”
And we passed on.
Then we came where we saw a man tracing
his shadow on the sand. Great waves came and erased it. But he went on tracing
it again and again.
“He is the mystic,” said my soul, “Let
us leave him.”
And we walked on, till in a quiet cover
we saw a man scooping up the foam and putting it into an alabaster bowl.
“He is the idealist,” said my soul,
“Surely he must not see our nudity.”
And on we walked. Suddenly we heard a
voice crying, “This is the sea. This is the deep sea. This is the vast and
mighty sea.” And when we reached the voice it was a man whose back was turned
to the sea, and at his ear he held a shell, listening to its murmur.
And my soul said, “Let us pass on. He is
the realist, who turns his back on the whole he cannot grasp, and busies
himself with a fragment.”
So we passed on. And in a weedy place
among the rocks was a man with his head buried in the sand. And I said to my
soul, “We can bath here, for he cannot see us.”
“Nay,” said my soul, “For he is the most
deadly of them all. He is the puritan.”
Then a great sadness came over the face
of my soul, and into her voice.
“Let us go hence,” she said, “For there
is no lonely, hidden place where we can bathe. I would not have this wind lift
my golden hair, or bare my white bosom in this air, or let the light disclose
my sacred nakedness.”
Then we left that sea to seek the
Greater Sea.
You can find the book here.
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You can find the book here.
(If you enjoy my content, please consider supporting what I do. Thank you.)