What
a melancholy day. Memorial Day, May 26, 2013. Cloudy, dismal, and
cold. I drove to the small town cemetery where my father is buried to
offer up my thanks and leave a bit of beauty. On the way there NPR
was broadcasting poets reading somber and heart wrenching poetry
about love and loss. The way home was even sadder for the broadcast
had moved on to memoirs of Vietnam veterans. The little town by the
cemetery has become seedy, run down, and sad looking.
Home
again I picked up my beat up copy of The Prophet that I
scavenged from an antique mall. It's been reclining by my bed for
weeks now. Finding it at the mall had stirred up memories of my
friends and I passing it around in college and memorizing quotes that
seemed so relevant during the Vietnam era. This particular copy was
published later than the one I would have had (1977) and I had
forgotten that it was originally published in 1923. Not remembering
anything about it I was still thinking about college times when I
opened the book to see this written inside the front cover, “Maxine,
I want you to have this. Consider it my Christmas present to you. I
hope you do take the time to read it. Sorry that I didn't know.
Vicki.” Hmmm, who were or are Vicki and Maxine? What did Vicki need
to know and didn't? Why did Maxine let this treasure get away from
her and end up in a dusty dank pile of old books? I had to have it,
and so it goes.
In
some unnamed time and place a wandering prophet (I think I might be
getting addicted to pilgrim stories too!) has been in a coastal town
for twelve years while waiting for a ship to come and take him back
to his home that he so misses. He wants to give his devoted followers
something. Since he has no possessions he decides to spend time
talking with them and requests each to ask an important question from
the heart. The answers from the prophet are written like poetical
philosophical essays. My favorite chapters and quotations at this
time are as follows:
Giving - “There are those who give little of the much which they have and they give it for recognition and their hidden desire makes their gifts unwholesome.”
Teaching - “If he is indeed wise he does not bid you enter the house of his wisdom, but rather leads you to the threshold of your own mind.”
Death - “And what is it to cease breathing, but to free the breath from its restless tides, that it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered?”
If
you have this book and take it down periodically and peruse the
chapters I am guessing different chapters will speak to you at
different times. I'm sure when I was 19 the above were not the ones I
quoted. More than likely it was Love, Joy and Sorrow, and perhaps
Self-knowledge.
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