Poetic Essays from The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran, Part 1 of 2 – “On Work” and “On Joy and Sorrow”

Born in 1883, Kahlil Gibran was an enlightened Lebanese philosopher, author, poet, artist and mystic, who immigrated to the United States when He was young. “Always you have been told that work is a curse and labor a misfortune. But I say to you that when you work you fulfil a part of Earth’s dream, assigned to you when that dream was born, And in keeping yourself with labor you are in truth loving life, And to love life through labor is to be intimate with life’s inmost secret.” “Truly you are suspended like scales between your sorrow and your joy. Only when you are empty are you at standstill and balanced.”