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On Friendship By Khalil Gibran Poetry Wednesdays 4

October 15, 2009 · By Sloane Davidson, Founder and CEO, Hello Neighbor

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The fourth installment of Poetry Wednesdays is another of my favorite poets of all time, Khalil Gibran. Now for those of you new to my blog going "Why is she posting about poems?" Well, I decided a month ago that I was being bogged down by writing about cause and projects and wanted to have an outlet, after all, isn't that what a blog is for? I was sitting in bed one night and reading the Norton Anthology of Poetry (ain't my life a ball of fire, I know) and remembered how much I truly love poetry and the way the words come together in thoughts and images and time. Now every Wednesday, I'll bring you one poem that is special to me. If there are ones you love, please leave them in the comments!

The poem below needs no introduction. I have read The Prophet maybe 30 times. Maybe more. I often have it near me and flip through the pages. It's in my top 5 books of all time. I hope you enjoy, for the first or 100th time, On Friendship.

On Friendship by Khalil Gibran

Your friend is your needs answered. He is your field which you sow with love and reap with thanksgiving. And he is your board and your fireside. For you come to him with your hunger, and you seek him for peace.

When your friend speaks his mind you fear not the "nay" in your own mind, nor do you withhold the "ay." And when he is silent your heart ceases not to listen to his heart; For without words, in friendship, all thoughts, all desires, all expectations are born and shared, with joy that is unacclaimed. When you part from your friend, you grieve not; For that which you love most in him may be clearer in his absence, as the mountain to the climber is clearer from the plain. And let there be no purpose in friendship save the deepening of the spirit. For love that seeks aught but the disclosure of its own mystery is not love but a net cast forth: and only the unprofitable is caught.

And let your best be for your friend. If he must know the ebb of your tide, let him know its flood also. For what is your friend that you should seek him with hours to kill? Seek him always with hours to live. For it is his to fill your need, but not your emptiness. And in the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures. For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed.

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