The Coming of the Ship

-from The Prophet
by Kahlil Gibran

And as he walked he saw from afar men and women leaving their fields and their vineyards and hastening towards the city gates.

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And he heard their voices calling his name, and shouting from field to field telling one another of the coming of his ship.

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And he said to himself:

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Shall the day of parting be the day of gathering?

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And shall it be said that my eve was in truth my dawn?

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And what shall I give unto him who has left his plough in midfurrow, or to him who has stopped the wheel of his winepress? Shall my heart become a tree heavy-laden with fruit that I may gather and give unto them?

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And shall my desires flow like a fountain that I may fill their cups?

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Am I a harp that the hand of the mighty may touch me, or a flute that his breath may pass through me?

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A seeker of silences am I, and what treasure have I found in silences that I may dispense with confidence?

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If this is my day of harvest, in what fields have I sowed the seed, and in what unremembered seasons?

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If this indeed be the hour in which I lift up my lantern, it is not my flame that shall burn therein.

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Empty and dark shall I raise my lantern,

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And the guardian of the night shall fill it with oil and he shall light it also.