The Forerunner | Khalil Gibran Poem

Here's a wonderful parable by the great Khalil Gibran taken from The Forerunner (His Parables and Poems). In this multi-layered parable, Gibran explores the origin of man, faith, the path of self-realization, and the different stages one faces on the path to self-liberation.

By integrating Gibran’s wisdom into daily life, you are invited to cultivate a deeper sense of self-awareness and connectedness to the world around you. From the way we interact with others to the pursuit of our passions. That it may deepen your insight.

Gibran Khalil Gibran (January 6, 1883 – April 10, 1931), usually referred to in English as Kahlil Gibran, was a Lebanese-American writer, poet, and visual artist in the Sufi / Christian mystic tradition. His most famous work is ‘The Prophet’

Photo by Robert Thiemann.

Transcript

You are your own forerunner,

And the towers you have built are but the foundation of your giant self,

And that self too shall be a foundation.

And I too am my own forerunner,

For the long shadow stretching before me at sunrise shall gather under my feet at the noon hour,

Yet another sunrise shall lay another shadow before me,

And that also shall be gathered at another noon.

Always have we been our own forerunners,

And always shall we be.

And all that we have gathered and shall gather shall be but seeds for fields yet unplowed.

We are the fields and the plowmen,

The gatherers and the gathered.

When you were a wandering desire in the mist,

I too was there,

A wandering desire.

Then we sought one another,

And out of our eagerness dreams were born,

And dreams were time limitless,

And dreams were space without measure.

And when you were a silent word upon life's quivering lips,

I too was there,

Another silent word.

Then life uttered us,

And we came down the years throbbing with memories of yesterday and with longing for tomorrow.

For yesterday was death conquered,

And tomorrow was birth pursued.

And now we are in God's hands.

You are a sun in his right hand,

And I an earth in his left hand.

Yet you are not more shining than I shone upon.

And we,

Sun and earth,

Are but the beginning of a greater sun and a greater earth,

And always shall we be the beginning.

You are your own forerunner,

You the stranger passing by the gate of my garden.

And I too am my own forerunner,

Though I sit in the shadows of my trees and seem motionless.