No More Learning

? The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Madman, by Khalil Gibran

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Title: The Madman

Author: Khalil Gibran

Posting Date: July 2, 2011 [EBook #5616]
Release Date: May, 2004
[This file was first posted on July 22, 2002]

Language: English


*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MADMAN ***




Produced by William Fishburne








The Madman

His Parables and Poems


By Kahlil Gibran





You ask me how I became a madman. It happened thus: One day, long
before many gods were born, I woke from a deep sleep and found all
my masks were stolen,--the seven masks I have fashioned and worn in
seven lives,--I ran maskless through the crowded streets shouting,
"Thieves, thieves, the cursed thieves. "

Men and women laughed at me and some ran to their houses in fear
of me.

And when I reached the market place, a youth standing on a house-top
cried, "He is a madman. " I looked up to behold him; the sun kissed
my own naked face for the first time. For the first time the sun
kissed my own naked face and my soul was inflamed with love for
the sun, and I wanted my masks no more. And as if in a trance I
cried, "Blessed, blessed are the thieves who stole my masks. "

Thus I became a madman.

And I have found both freedom of loneliness and the safety from
being understood, for those who understand us enslave something in
us.

But let me not be too proud of my safety. Even a Thief in a jail
is safe from another thief.
God




In the ancient days, when the first quiver of speech came to my lips,
I ascended the holy mountain and spoke unto God, saying, "Master,
I am thy slave. Thy hidden will is my law and I shall obey thee
for ever more. "

But God made no answer, and like a mighty tempest passed away.

And after a thousand years I ascended the holy mountain and again
spoke unto God, saying, "Creator, I am thy creation. Out of clay
hast thou fashioned me and to thee I owe mine all. "

And God made no answer, but like a thousand swift wings passed
away.

And after a thousand years I climbed the holy mountain and spoke
unto God again, saying, "Father, I am thy son. In pity and love
thou hast given me birth, and through love and worship I shall
inherit thy kingdom. "

And God made no answer, and like the mist that veils the distant
hills he passed away.

And after a thousand years I climbed the sacred mountain and again
spoke unto God, saying, "My God, my aim and my fulfillment; I am
thy yesterday and thou are my tomorrow. I am thy root in the earth
and thou art my flower in the sky, and together we grow before the
face of the sun. "

Then God leaned over me, and in my ears whispered words of sweetness,
and even as the sea that enfoldeth a brook that runneth down to
her, he enfolded me.

And when I descended to the valleys and the plains God was there
also.





My Friend




My friend, I am not what I seem. Seeming is but a garment I wear--a
care-woven garment that protects me from thy questionings and thee
from my negligence.

The "I" in me, my friend, dwells in the house of silence, and
therein it shall remain for ever more, unperceived, unapproachable.