Treasured Writings of Kahlil Gibran (65 page)

Since Sarkis was the head of the committee honoring the poet, he extended an invitation to his friend Gibran in New York to join them on the honor day in Beirut. Gibran could not make the trip, but he sent to Sarkis a prose poem with instructions to read it in his behalf before the poet on the day of the event. The story, which is not published in this book, was entitled “The Poet from Baalbeck.” It was a eulogy in which Gibran pictured the poet laureate of the two sister countries as a prince sitting on his golden throne and receiving wise men from the East. In the story, Gibran expressed his belief in the transmigration of souls and praises the great soul that was incarnated in the honored poet's body.

TO SALEEM SARKIS

New York,

Oct. 6, 1912

Dear Sarkis Effandi,

I am sending you a story that was revealed to me by the devilish muses to honor the poet Khalil Effandi Mutran. As you notice, the story is rather short compared with the dignity of the great prince and outstanding poet. But at the same time it is long in comparison to the ones written by other poets and writers who, of course, are inclined to be brief and clever, especially when it comes to honoring poets. What shall I do when the muses inspire me to write on such a subject that needs a little expatiation?

Please accept my sincerest thanks for your invitation to join you in honoring a great poet who pours his soul as wine into the cups of the Arab League of Progress, and who burns his heart as incense before the two countries [Syria and Egypt] by strengthening the ties of friendship and love between them.

To you goes my salaam mingled with my sincerest respect and admiration.

G
IBRAN

TO AMEEN GURAIEB

Boston,

Feb. 18, 1913

Brother Ameen:

This is the last word I say to you while you are in this country. It is a word emanating from the holy of holies of the heart, mingled with a sigh of longing and a smile of hope:

Be healthy every hour of the day, and every day of the month. Enjoy beautiful things wherever you see them, and let their memory and their echo remain in your heart until the day you return to your friends and well-wishers. Meet the admirers of
Almuhager
in Egypt, Syria, and Lebanon, and speak to them of the deeds of their immigrant brethren; unfold before them that which the long distance has folded between our hearts and their hearts; and strengthen the ties that connect our souls with their souls.

Take a walk in the morning and stand on the top of one of the mountains in Lebanon and meditate upon the sun when it is rising and pouring its golden rays upon the villages and the valleys. Let these heavenly pictures remain inscribed upon your heart so that we can share them when you come back to us. Be kind enough to convey the longing of our souls and the wishes of our hearts to the youth of Lebanon. Tell the elderly men of Syria that our thoughts, affections, and dreams never leave our hearts and souls except when they fly towards them. When your boat reaches Beirut, stand on its prow and look towards Mount Sunnin and Fam El-Mizab and greet our forefathers who are sleeping under the layers of the earth, and salute the fathers and brothers who are living above the earth. Mention our works and endeavors in private and public meetings. Tell them that we are busy sowing seeds in America so that we may some day reap the harvest in Lebanon. Do and say whatever you wish provided you are happy, for your happiness is the wish and hope of every true Lebanese in the United States of America.

Miriana shakes your hand and wishes you happiness. Remember me to the well-wishers of
Almuhager
in Egypt, Syria, and Lebanon. Perchance when my name reaches their ears it will turn into a soothing tune. Goodbye, Ameen, goodbye, O dear brother of

G
IBRAN

Every time Gibran published a book, he sent a copy to May for criticism. When
The Cortege
or
Procession,
and
The Madman
were published, May reviewed them in
Al-Hilal,
a magazine in Egypt, and wrote Gibran a special letter in which she discussed the above books. Gibran answered her and thanked her for the criticism, praising her cleverness, her vast knowledge, and her frankness. At the same time he tried to acquit himself of being in agreement with Nietzsche and to deny some ideas he wrote on passion in
The Madman.

TO MAY ZIADEH

Dear May,

… All in all the madman is not I. The passion which I sought to bring out through the lips of a personage I had created does not represent my own feelings. The language that I found expressive of the desires of this madman is different from the language that I use when I sit down to converse with a friend whom I love and respect. If you really want to discover my reality through my writings, why don't you refer to the youth in the field and the soothing tune of his flute instead of the madman and his ugly cries? You will realize that the madman is no more than a link in a long chain made of metal. I do not deny that the madman was an unpolished link of rough iron, but this does not mean that the whole chain is rough. For every soul there is a season, May. The soul's winter is not like her spring, and her summer is not like her autumn….

Then Gibran went on discussing his book
Tears and Laughter
whose dialogue May had criticized and enquired of its author what prompted him to write such a childish work, to which Gibran bravely answered:

… Now let us discuss
Tears And Laughter
for a moment. I am not afraid to tell you that this came out before the World War. At that time I sent you a copy and never heard from you whether you received it or not. The articles in
Tears And Laughter
were the first ones that I wrote in series and published them in
Almuhager
sixteen years ago. Nasseeb Arida (may Allah forgive him) was the one who collected these articles, to which he added two more which I wrote in Paris, and published them in one book. During my childhood and the days of my youth, before the writings of
Tears And Laughter,
I wrote enough prose and poetry to fill many volumes, but I did not, and shall not, commit the crime of having them published.

G
IBRAN

As the name of Kahlil Gibran was, and still is, dear to every Lebanese heart or Arabic-speaking person, so the name of Mikhail Naimay today is dear to the hearts of the sons and daughters of Lebanon.

Naimy, who is a leading literary figure in Lebanon and the Middle East, lives in seclusion in his home town, Biskinta, near Mount Sunnin in Lebanon. While in New York, Naimy and Gibran were inseparable friends, and it was to Naimy that Gibran complained and entrusted his secrets. Even on his deathbed Gibran called for Naimy, who came to stay with him at the hospital until he breathed his last.

Born in Biskinta, Lebanon, Mikhail Naimy received his early education at a parochial school conducted by the Imperial Russian Palestine Society. In 1906 he was granted a scholarship to the Seminary of Poltava in the Ukraine, where he made an extensive study of the Russian language in which he wrote poems and treatises that were widely admired. In 1916 Naimy received two degress from the University of Washington. He wrote and published in Arabic many critical articles and stories while at the University. In 1916 he decided that the Arabic literary circle in New York, with the great Arabic writers, Ameen Rihani, Kahlil Gibran, Nassib Arida, and others, was to be his field.

In World War I, he served at the front with the AEF. After his honorable discharge in 1919 he returned to his literary career. In 1932 at the height of his fame he decided to return to Lebanon.

Among the works he published are
Two Generations,
a popular play;
The Cribble,
a series of critical essays;
Stages,
dealing with inner and outer life;
Once Upon a Time,
a collection of short stories;
Food for the Godward Journey,
his famous discourses;
Eyelid Whisperings,
philosophical poems;
Encounter,
a novel;
Threshing Floor
and
Light and Darkness,
philosophical contemplations;
The Memoirs of a Pitted Face,
a self-portrait of a bizarre personality;
Vineyard by the Road,
sayings and parables;
PresentDay Idols,
an analytical essay;
The World's Voice,
thoughts and meditations of life;
The Book of Mirdad,
a book for seekers after spiritual emancipation.