10 of the Best Kahlil Gibran Poems to Experience
Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931), a Lebanese-American poet, is most celebrated for his iconic book, The Prophet. This 1923 masterpiece has sold over 9 million copies in the US alone, establishing Gibran as one of the most popular poets worldwide, following only Shakespeare and Lao-Tzu in lifetime sales.
Although The Prophet contains 26 lyrical essays spoken by the sage Almustafa as he prepares to leave after years of exile, Gibran’s poetic genius extends beyond this work. He wrote in both Arabic and English, producing fables, parables, and prose-poems that explore themes of love, sorrow, and wisdom. Here is a selection of Gibran’s most impactful works.
Almitra, a seeress in The Prophet, asks Al Mustafa, the prophet, to explain love.
Al Mustafa describes love as intense yet enlightening, urging people to embrace love’s challenges for their growth.
He explains that love involves both joy and sorrow, encouraging us to welcome it wholly rather than selectively pursuing only its pleasures.
In response to a hermit’s question on pleasure, Al Mustafa offers a profound reflection, calling pleasure a “freedom-song” but not true freedom itself.
Al Mustafa explains that while pleasure brings joy, it is a fleeting moment rather than the fulfillment of desire, stressing that true freedom lies beyond mere pleasure.
This poem starts with three ants meeting on a sleeping man’s nose, exchanging words and pondering their surroundings.
They recognize their place on a larger being, introducing the idea that what seems vast to them may be only a fragment of a much greater whole.
From Gibran's 1918 collection The Madman, this parable features a blind man who calls himself an astronomer.
When the narrator approaches him, he learns that the man’s stars and galaxies exist within his heart, emphasizing introspection and inner vision over external sight.
Echoing themes from William Blake, this prose-poem reflects on Joy and Sorrow as intertwined experiences.
The speaker recalls how joy turned to sorrow due to isolation, portraying the fragility of happiness without someone to share it.
In this parable, three men—each a weaver, carpenter, and ploughman—meet at a tavern, sharing dreams of achieving more than their humble origins.
The tavern-keeper’s wife yearns for her son to escape poverty and become a priest, portraying ambition as a universal longing.
This poem explores unconscious emotions through the sleepwalking journeys of a woman and her daughter, who encounter each other in a garden.
In this state, they exchange grievances, revealing deep-seated regrets and resentments toward each other, symbolizing the generational conflicts between parents and children.
A tale of perception, this poem features a king who is both feared and loved for his wisdom.
When a witch poisons the city’s well, causing madness, the populace perceives the unpoisoned king as insane, highlighting the irony of societal standards of sanity and madness.
In this parable, two hermits who share a solitary life possess only a single bowl.
They face a dilemma on dividing it, symbolizing the value of unity and the futility of dividing what cannot be separated without loss.
This poem presents the speaker’s seven selves, each representing aspects of his personality, from love to madness.
The seventh self, with no clear purpose, envies the others, revealing the human need for meaning and direction.
Conclusion: Gibran’s poetry transcends time, offering readers insightful perspectives on universal themes of love, ambition, sorrow, and self-discovery. His work remains a testament to the power of poetic wisdom, encouraging us to reflect on life’s deeper meanings.