the prophet/ laughter and tears

This morning I was searching for a concept about love and relationships and I decided to relook at the book "The Prophet" by Kahlil Gibran. This is the book we'd read aloud to Robin in her last days. It's a book which I first read almost twenty-five years ago.

I'd always taken the title and the beginning of the story literally. It's a self-described story about a Prophet who has lived in a city for years and is soon to be leaving on a ship which he sees approaching the shore. Before he boards the townspeople ask him to describe what he's learned while he lived in the town.

Well, imagine my surprise when after all these years I finally got the concept that this is the story of the end of one man's life. *REALLY?* All these years I honestly thought it was about a guy leaving his town to sail off to another town. But now I understand the context. Man, I'm just way too literal sometimes!. I should have gotten a clue from this passage, as the ship approaches, the town's priests and priestesses say to Mustapha:

Let not the waves of the sea separate us
now, and the years you have spent in our
midst become a memory.
You have walked among us in spirit, and
your shadow has been a light upon our faces.
Much have we loved you. But speechless
was our love, and with veils has it been
veiled.
Yet it now cries aloud unto you, and
Would stand revealed to you.
And ever has it been that love knows not
Its own depth until the hour of separation.

Hmmm..yeah, come to think of it, the emotion is a little stronger than you'd imagine if you saw your loved one boarding a Princess Cruise! It's moments like these when I'm laughing, and snorting, with tears running down my cheeks as I experience the absurdity of life.

I guess we choose well when we elected to read this book to Robin. :)