Forward
“Selma karamy was the one who taught me
to worship beauty by the example of her own beauty and revealed to me
the secret of love by her affection; she was the one who first sang to
me the poetry of real life. Every young man remembers his first love and
tries to recapture that strange hour, the memory of which changes his
deepest feeling and makes him so happy in spite of all the bitterness of
its mystery. In every young man’s life there is a ‘Selma’ …”
Silent Sorrow
“The sensitive boy who feels much and knows little is the most unfortunate creature under the sun.”
“I saw the angels of heaven looking at me
through the eyes of a beautiful woman. I also saw the devils of hell
raging in the heart of an evil man. He who does not see the angels and
devils in the beauty and malice of life will be far removed from
knowledge, and his spirit will be empty of affection.”
The Hand of Destiny
“He lives spiritually in the past because
the present passes swiftly, and the future seems to him an approach to
the oblivion of the grave.”
Entrance to the Shrine
“Selma is very sentimental. She sees everything through the eyes of the spirit.”
“Real beauty lies in the spiritual accord that is called love which can exist between a man and a woman.”
“Love is the only freedom in the world
because it so elevates the spirit that the laws of humanity and the
phenomena of nature do not alter its course.”
The White Torch
“She became a book whose pages I could understand and whose praises I could sing, but which I could never finish reading.”
“The sorrowful spirit finds rest when united with a similar one.”
“Love that is cleansed by tears will remain externally pure and beautiful.”
The Tempest
“… speech is not the only means of
understanding between two souls. It is not the syllables that come from
the lips and tongues that bring hearts together. There is something
greater and purer than what the mouth utters. Silence illuminates our
souls, whispers to our hearts, and brings them together. Silence
separates us from ourselves, makes us sail the firmament of spirit, and
brings us closer to Heaven; it makes us feel that bodies are no more
than prisons and that this world is only a place of exile.”
“If darkness hides the trees and flowers from our eyes, it will not hide love from our hearts.”
“One look from a woman’s eye makes you the happiest man in the world.”
“The appearance of things changes according to the emotions … the magic and beauty are really in ourselves.”
“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.”
“Love is the offspring of spiritual affinity …”
“This emotion which we fear and which
shakes us when it passes through our hearts is the law of nature that
guides the moon around the earth and the sun around the God.”
“… love is the only flower that grows and blossoms without the aid of seasons …”
Lake of Fire
“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 … 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.”
“The eye could not resist a spear without being pierced, and the hand could not grasp a sword without being cut off.”
“In some countries, the parent’s wealth is a source of misery for the children.”
“Nothing was more beautiful than those days of love, and nothing was more bitter than those horrible nights of sorrow.”
“Look at me, my friend; study my face and
I read in it that which you want to know and which I cannot recite.
Look at me, my beloved … look at me, my brother.”
“We disobeyed no commandment, nor did we taste of forbidden fruit, so what is making us leave this paradise?”
Gibran: “I will be as you want me to be,
my beloved.” Selma: “I want you to love me as a poet loves his sorrowful
thoughts.” Gibran: “I shall love you, Selma, as the prairies love the
spring … Love will be my sole comforter, and I shall drink love like
wine and wear it like garment … Love, my beloved Selma, will stay with
me to the end of my life, and after death the hand of God will unite us
again.”
Selma: “Oh, Lord … Thou hast created
woman with love, and why, with love, dost Thou ruin her? … Oh, Lord,
Thou hast opened my eyes with love, and with love Thou hast blinded me …
Thou hast tied my present with the spirit of a young man whom I love,
but my life with the body of an unknow man … Oh, Lord God, have mercy on
me and mend my broken wings!”
Before the Throne of Death
“The woman of yesterday was a happy wife,
but the woman of today is a miserable mistress. In the past she walked
blindly in the light, but now she walks open-eyed in the dark. She was
beautiful in her ignorance, virtuous in her simplicity, and strong in
her weakness. Today she has become ugly in her ingenuity, superficial
and heartless in her knowledge. Will the day ever come when beauty and
knowledge, ingenuity and virtue, and weakness of body and strength of
spirit will be united in a woman?”
“… I am one of those who believe that spiritual progress is a rule of
human life, but the approach to perfection is slow and painful.”
Gibran: “Come, Selma, come and let us be
as strong towers before the tempest. Let us stand like brave soldiers
before the enemy and face his weapons. If we are killed, we shall die as
martyrs; and if we win, we shall live as heroes. Braving obstacles and
hardships is nobler than retreat to tranquility. The butterfly that
hovers around the lamp until it dies is more admirable than the mole
that lives in a dark tunnel …”
Selma: “Are you asking me to have
patience, while you are in need of it yourself? Will a hungry man give
his bread to another hungry man? Or will sick man give medicine to
another which he himself needs badly?”
“All of us were toys in the hands of fate.”
“The most beautiful word on the lips of
mankind is the word ‘Mother’, and the most beautiful call is the call of
‘My mother’. it is a word full of hope and love, a sweet and kind word
coming from the depths of the heart. The mother is everything — she is
our consolation in sorrow, our hope in misery, and our strength in
weakness. She is the source of love, mercy, sympathy, and forgiveness.
He who loses his mother loses a pure soul who blesses and guards him
constantly … And the mother, the prototype of all existence, is the
eternal spirit, full of beauty and love.”
Selma: “This is the only friend I shall
have after you are gone, but how can he console me when he is suffering
also? How can a broken heart find consolation in a disappointed soul? A
sorrowful woman cannot be comforted by her neighbor’s sorrow, nor can a
bird fly with broken wings. He is the friend of my soul, but I have
already placed a heavy burden of sorrow upon him and dimmed his eyes
with my tears till he can see nothing but darkness. He is a brother whom
I dearly love, but he is like all brothers who share my sorrow and help
me shed tears which increase my bitterness and burn my heart.”
Farris Effandi: “Do not shed tears of
misery upon my hand, for they may grow thorns upon my grave. Do not draw
lines of agony upon my forehead, for the wind may pass and read them
and refuse to carry the dust of my bones to the green prairies …
mourning for the dead is a mistake.”
“The will of humanity cannot change the will of God, as an astrologer cannot change the course of the stars.”
“Oh, Lord, have mercy and mend our broken wings.”
“Many a time I tried to forget my
misfortune by occupying myself with books and scriptures of past
generation, but it was like extinguishing fire with oil, for I could see
nothing in the procession of the past but tragedy and could hear
nothing but weeping and wailing.”
Between Christ and Ishtar
“The man buys glory and reputation, but the woman pays the price.”
“The spirit which is purified by fire and
washed by tears is higher than what the people call shame and disgrace;
it is free from the laws of slavery and old customs against the
affections of the human heart. That spirit can proudly stand unashamed
before the throne of God.”
“The spirit who has seen the spectre of
death cannot be scared by the faces of thieves; the soldier who has seen
the swords glittering over his head and streams of blood under his feet
does not care about rocks thrown at him by the children on the
streets.”
Sacrifice
“Is separation the only means of avoiding
people’s evils and meanness? Has the path of love and freedom been
closed and is nothing left except submission to the will of the slaves
of death?”
“Love is a precious treasure, it is God’s
gift to sensitive and great spirits. Shall we throw this treasure away
and let the pigs scatter it and trample on it?”
Selma: “I am not worthy of a new life of
love and peace; I am not strong enough for life’s pleasure and
sweetness, because a bird with broken wings cannot fly in the spacious
sky. The eyes that are accustomed to the dim light of a candle are not
strong enough to stare at the sun. Do not talk to me of happiness; its
memory makes me suffer. Mention not peace to me; its shadow frightens
me; but look at me and I will show you the holy torch which Heaven has
lighted in the ashes of my heart — you know that I love you as a mother
loves her only child, and Love only taught me to protect you even from
myself. It is Love, purified with fire, that stops me from following you
to the farthest land. Love kills my desires so that you may live freely
and virtuously. Limited love asks for possession of the beloved, but
the unlimited asks only for itself … Love which is born in the
firmament’s lap and has descended with the night’s secrets is not
contended with anything but Eternity and immortality; it does not stand
reverently before anything except deity … I found out that our love was
as deep as the ocean and as high as the stars and as spacious as the sky
… 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 … 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.”
“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 …”
“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 honorable. And this sincerity was in Selma
Karamy.”
The Rescuer
The grave digger: “Right here; I placed
his daughter upon him and upon his daughter’s breast rests her child,
and upon all I put the earth back with this shovel.” Gibran: “In this
ditch you have also buried my heart.”
