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Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.

THEN a woman said, Speak to us of Joy and Sorrow.

And he answered:

Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.

And the self same well from which your laughter
rises was often times 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 holds 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.

~ Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet

Comments

avocadoinparadise said…
If joy is sorrow unmasked, then is sorrow joy unmasked? This poem seems to say so. And the author thinks that the only way to not be sad is to be blank with no joy or sorrow, but wouldn't that would be dull?
11:44 AM
Stone boy said…
I don't believe that the author thinks that the only way to not be sad is to be blank. He merely emphasizes that joy and sorrow come for the same source, the heart.
10:46 PM
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