100 years ago this year Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet was published. A beloved manuscript of verses, it has sold millions of copies and been translated into countless languages.I read my copy often. My favorites verses are:
On marriage:
“Give your hearts, but not into each
other’s keeping.
For only the hand of Life can contain
your hearts.
And stand together yet not too near
together:
For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
And the oak tree and the cypress grow
not in each other’s shadow.”
And on children.:
“Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.”
100 years. And as relevant and as beautiful today.
Women read male authors, but few men read female authors. Can you believe this, in 2023?
Do you remember the first book you passionately loved? I sure do. It was “101 Dalmatians” by the wonderful Dodie Smith, that I first read when I was about seven or eight. My dad was a librarian, and he brought it home for me. I fell so in love with it that I wouldn’t give it back! He kept telling me it had to be returned, that I couldn’t keep it. So I started copying it. No, not with a copy machine, but by hand!! I was determined to write out every single page of that book so that I had it forever.
And so it began. I raced home from school every day and sat scrunched over my little desk, writing out the book, word for word. I got to page forty-five, before my dad found a way to take pity on me. He told his boss at the library what his little daughter was doing, and she finally gifted me the copy.
This is a rough cover, just to inspire me as I wrote. And not even sure of the title yet. Remains to be seen.