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      Kahlil Gibran was born in Bsharri, Lebanon on January 6, 1883. He and some of his family members left Lebanon for the United States in 1895. His art work has been displayed all over the world. Gibran's poetry has been translated into more than twenty languages. He has been compared to William Blake. The words he wrote are words that hide deep inside every human. Passion and awareness are very present. Therefore, we are given gifted people like Gibran who can make those words and emotions plain like the clouds in the sky. The Prophet was held by Gibran himself to be one of his greatest and most dearest works. In the introduction to the book Gibran states, "I think I've never been without The Prophet since I first conceived the book back in Mount Lebanon. It seems to have been a part of me....I kept the manuscript four years before I delivered it over to my publisher because I wanted to be sure, I wanted to be very sure, that every word of it was the very best I had to offer."(Gibran)
        In The Prophet, Gibran wrote about a character named Almustofa who is getting ready to leave his city of Orphalese and the people there who helped raise him. He has been there for twelve years and the ship had returned to take him back to his birth place. The people of the city gather together to see him off and to say goodbye. The elders of the city, the priest, and priestesses call out to him. Almitra is a seeress. She comes out of the crowd. She was the first person to believe in him and welcome him in his first day in the city when he was a young boy. She tells him to disclose the people to themselves to show what them what he has been shown. He answers, "People of Orphalese, of what can I speak save of that which is even now moving within your souls?"(10) Almitra asks of love and marriage. A mother asks of children and a rich man asks of giving. They go through all the aspects of life. The people seek wisdom in work, eating and drinking, joy and sorrow, houses, clothes, buying and selling, crime and punishment, laws, freedom, reason and passion, pain, self-knowledge, teaching, friendship, talking, time, prayer, beauty, good and evil, religion, death, and farewell. This is one of his deepest and dearest work. Gibran's words go into the soul, body, and heart of the human being. All his works hold a humble love and holy care. Some of Gibran's other works include Spirits Rebellious 1908, The Broken Wing 1912, and The Procession 1918. He also wrote some shorter pieces like The New Frontier and My Countrymen.
      All of the prophet's words are spoken in wisdom. Peace is found in wisdom. Perhaps world peace could even blossom from the prophet's thoughts on good and evil. Gibran believed the person first must find peace, happiness, and the spirit of God in one's own self. "And one of the eldersof the city said, Speak to us of Good and Evil. And he answered: Of the good in you I can speak, but not of the evil. For what is evil but good tortured by its own hunger and thirst? Verily when good is hungry it seeks food even in dark caves, and when it thirsts it drinks even of dead waters. You are good when you are one with yourself. Yet when you are not one with yourself you are evil. For a divided house is not a den of thieves; it is only a divided house. And a ship without rudder may wander aimlessly among perilous isles yet sink not to the bottom."(64)
      Almost all of his written works are accomodated with paintings and drawings by Gibran. His art work also holds a spiritual completeness that represents the human spirit and the power and beauty it holds. His art is very mystical looking. He uses a combination of medium and dark colors. He did a lot in black and white. He also doesn't use dark defining outlines of images. They all tend to be very soft.
        Kahlil Gibran died on April 10, 1931 in a New York hospital. He was forty-eight years old and had liver cancer caused by a long term battle with alcohol. His family buried him in Bsharri, Lebanon where he was born. The people who attended his burial service said it wasn't a time of mourning, but a time of celebration.




Bibliography

Gibran,Kahlil. The Prophet. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. 1923.
Transcribed by Lynette McIntosh, October 14, 2000
Encoded HTML by Lynette McIntosh, October 21, 2000
Revised date October 31, 2000

Waterfield, Robin. Prophet: The Life and Times of Kahlil Gibran. New York: St. Martin's Press 1998.