Title Page

BOOKS BY KAHLIL GIBRAN IN THIS SERIES

BOOKS BY KAHLIL GIBRAN IN THIS SERIES

Spirit Brides
The Storm
The Vision
The Beloved
Broken Wings

Note on texts

The pieces translated in this volume are taken from Michail Naimy, ed., al-Majmu‘ah al-kámila li-mu’allifát Jibrán Khalíl Jibrán, Beirut, 1961, and were originally published in various Arabic papers and journals. They are “Ala Báb al-Haykal,” pp. 370-372; “Aghniyat al-Layl,” p. 595; “Aghání,” pp. 328—331; “Warda al-Hání,” pp. 81—95; “al-Jiníya alsáhira,” pp. 376—377; “Hayát al-Hubb,” pp. 236—237; “Hikáya,” pp. 238—240; “al-Rafíqa,” pp. 287—288; “Malikat al-Khiyál,” pp. 281—282; “al—Sulm,” pp. 306—307; “Hadith al-hubb,” pp. 302-304; “Munáját,” pp. 284—285; “Qabl al-intihár,” pp. 378—379; “Bayn al-Khará’ib,” pp. 253—254; “Ibtisáma wa-Dam‘a,” pp. 247—249; “Munáját arwáh,” pp. 316—319; “Madja‛ al-‛Arús,” pp. 106-115; “Bi’lláh yá Qalbí,” p. 592; “Makhb’át al-Sudúr,” pp. 293-295; “Banaát al-Bahr,” pp. 245-246; “Bil-Ams wa’l-Yawm wa-Ghadan,” p. 218; “Ayyuha’l-Layl,” pp. 373-375.

Dedication

To the spirit that embraced my spirit, to the heart that
poured its secrets into my heart, to the hand that kindled
the fire of my emotions, I dedicate this book.

GIBRAN

This was Gibran’s dedication of his collection Rebellious
Spirits, in which the stories “Rose al-Hani” and
“The Bridal Bed” appeared. It is addressed to his
friend and patron Mary Haskell.

Translator’s dedication:
To Linda, from whom I came to understand such things

Introduction

INTRODUCTION

Kahlil Gibran was born in 1883 in Bisharri, a Maronite Christian village in the mountains of northern Lebanon. His mother was from a family of priests; his father was a minor agent of the local warlord. His childhood was spent in desperate poverty in this place of great beauty. A family friend taught the young Kahlil how to read. When he was 12, his mother attempted to escape her troubles by emigrating to the United States with her children. From the ethereal beauty of the Lebanese mountains, Kahlil found himself amidst the squalor of the Boston slums. His mother scraped out a meager living for herself and her children as a peddler.

The young Kahlil’s lovely drawings attracted the attention of a social worker, who put him in touch with Fred Holland Day, an avant-garde photographer and publisher, who used Gibran and his family as models and introduced Gibran to the literary world of 1890s Boston. His new friends, charmed by this talented Lebanese boy, introduced him to modern art, gave him books to read by such authors as Nietzsche, and took him to plays and concerts. Thus, although his education in America was very uneven—he never really learned to spell, for example, and was always more comfortable writing in Arabic—he became accustomed to traveling in literary circles while still a teenager living with his family amidst the poverty of the Syrian ghetto in Boston’s South End.