The Coming of the Ship           
"The Prophet"

Now when he reached the foot of the hill,
he turned again towards the sea,
and he saw his ship approaching the harbour,
and upon her prow the mariners,
the men of his own land.

And his soul cried out to them, and he said:
Sons of my ancient mother, you riders of the tides,
How often have you sailed in my dreams.
And now you come in my awakening,
which is my deeper dream.
Ready am I to go,
and my eagerness with sails full set awaits the wind.
Only another breath will I breathe in this still air,
only another loving look cast backward,
And then I shall stand amoung you,
a seafarer amoung seafarers.
And you, vast sea, sleepless mother,
Who alone are peace and freedom
to the river and the stream,
Only another winding will this stream make,
only another murmur in this glade,
And then shall I come to you,
a boundless drop to a boundless ocean.

And the priests and the priestesses
said unto him:
Let not the waves of the sea
separate us now,
and the years you have spent
in our midst become a memory.
You have walked among us a spirit,
and your shadow has been
a light upon our faces.
.

Much have we loved you.
But speeachless was our love,
and with veils has it been veiled.
Yet now it cries aloud unto you,
and would stand revealed before you.
And ever has it been that love
knows not its own depth
until the hour of separation.

And others came also and entreated him.
But he answered them not.
He only bent his head; and those who stood near
saw his tears falling upon his breast.

Long were the days of pain I have spent,
and long were the nights of aloneness;
and who can depart from his pain and
his aloneness without regret?

"The Prophet"
from the chapter,
Coming of the Ship

Kahlil Gibran

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