Poetry nerd...

A couple months ago, when I was talking about the movie Aladdin, and about wishes and choices, I posted a Robert Frost poem. Rick then proceeded to label me a "poetry nerd." So if you're not nerdy like I am, you may want to skip the rest of this. :)

I just found this poem (although it's really more prose than poem, so maybe it won't scare off the anti-poetry crowd :)) by Khalil Gibran. It was one of those times when I read something and it just sort of "spoke" to me. Yeah, okay, so I AM a poetry nerd, and poetry "speaks" to me sometimes. But hey, this is better than what I was considering posting earlier, which was John Keats' Ode to a Nightingale. THAT poem is heavy and melancholy and rather long... so you guys lucked out. Today, anyway... you're welcome.

Joy and Sorrow

Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.

And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears.

And how else can it be?

The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.

Is not the cup that hold your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter's oven?

And is not the lute that soothes your spirit, the very wood that was hollowed with knives?

When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy.

When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.

Some of you say, "Joy is greater than sorrow," and others say, "Nay, sorrow is the greater."

But I say unto you, they are inseparable.

Together they come, and when one sits alone with you at your board, remember that the other is asleep upon your bed.

Verily you are suspended like scales between your sorrow and your joy.

Only when you are empty are you at standstill and balanced.

When the treasure-keeper lifts you to weigh his gold and his silver, needs must your joy or your sorrow rise or fall. 

-Khalil Gibran