Kahlil Gibran speaks about "Works" in the Prophet
Fierce at works, being alone (Malaysian) at site surrounded by locals in Vijayawada, India, 2012 |
You work that you may keep pace with the
earth and the soul of the earth.
For to be idle is to become a stranger unto
the seasons,
and to step out of life's procession, that
marches in majesty and proud submission towards the infinite.
When you work you are a flute through whose
heart the whispering of the hours turns to music.
Which of you would be a reed, dumb and
silent, when all else sings together in unison?
Always you have been told that work is a
curse and labour a misfortune.
But I say to you that when you work you
fulfil a part of earth's furthest dream, assigned to you when that dream was
born,
And in keeping yourself with labour you are
in truth loving life,
And to love life through labour is to be
intimate with life's inmost secret.
But if you in your pain call birth an
affliction and the support of the flesh a curse written upon your brow, then I
answer that naught but the sweat of your brow shall wash away that which is
written.
You have been told also that life is
darkness, and in your weariness you echo what was said by the weary.
And I say that life is indeed darkness save
when there is urge,
And all urge is blind save when there is
knowledge,
And all knowledge is vain save when there
is work,
And all work is empty save when there is
love;
And when you work with love you bind
yourself to yourself, and to one another, and to God.
And what is it to work with love?
It is to weave the cloth with threads drawn
from your heart,
even as if your beloved were to wear that
cloth.
It is to build a house with affection,
even as if your beloved were to dwell in
that house.
It is to sow seeds with tenderness and reap
the harvest with joy,
even as if your beloved were to eat the
fruit.
It is to charge all things you fashion with
a breath of your own spirit,
And to know that all the blessed dead
are standing about you and watching.
Often have I heard you say, as if speaking
in sleep, "He who works in marble, and finds the shape of his own soul in
the stone, is nobler than he who ploughs the soil.
And he who seizes the rainbow to lay it on
a cloth in the likeness of man, is more than he who makes the sandals for our
feet."
But I say, not in sleep but in the
overwakefulness of noontide, that the wind speaks not more sweetly to the giant
oaks than to the least of all the blades of grass;
And he alone is great who turns the voice
of the wind into a song made sweeter by his own loving.
Work is love made visible.
And if you cannot work with love but only
with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate
of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy.
For if you bake bread with indifference,
you bake a bitter bread that feeds but half man's hunger.
And if you grudge the crushing of the
grapes, your grudge distils a poison in the wine.
And if you sing though as angels, and love not
the singing, you muffle man's ears to the voices of the day and the voices of
the night.With Vijayawada Police Traffic, hide under a hut in hot summer month |
Remarks: All photos shared in the entry were during when "my works" call upon me in Vijayawada, India. I had to do whatever I did and I seek purity of earning while implementing an assigned task no matter what pains and sorrow it may brings me into. Over the years I learned to bear the politics, hence, able to say that I say no to climbing a ladder should it hurts others along the way. Peace within are valued more than anything in this world!!!
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